(Lander, WY) – The Lander School Board voted to amend its concealed carry policy for staff and volunteers last week, maintaining training requirements but removing other sections of the policy that are no longer permitted under state law.
The Wyoming Legislature passed House Enrolled Act 24 this year, allowing people with state-issued concealed carry permits to carry concealed weapons at government meetings, public schools, and public colleges or universities in the state.
The law lets local school boards adopt rules and regulations governing employees and volunteers who carry concealed weapons on district property – but Lander School Board Chair Jared Kail said those rules can’t require psychological evaluations and drug tests, both of which were included in the district’s original concealed carry policy.
Those items were removed from the amended policy the board approved last week.
The amended policy still requires employees and volunteers to complete at least 40 hours of live-fire handgun training and 16 hours of scenario-based training before carrying a concealed weapon on district property or to district events, followed by at least six hours each of live-fire handgun training and scenario-based training with an approved instructor every six months.
‘Wait and see’
Citing liability concerns, some school boards in Wyoming – like Riverton’s – have decided not to adopt their own training requirements for staff and volunteers carrying concealed weapons, opting instead to defer to the state statute, which simply requires a Wyoming-issued concealed carry permit.
To receive a concealed carry permit, applicants must demonstrate “familiarity with a firearm” by proving at least one of the following:
- completion of any certified firearm safety or training course utilizing instructors certified by the National Rifle Association or the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy
- completion of any law enforcement firearms safety or training course or class offered for security guards, investigators, special deputies, or any division of law enforcement or security enforcement
- experience with a firearm through participation in an organized handgun shooting competition or military service
- completion of any firearms training or safety course or class conducted by a state-certified or National Rifle Association-certified firearms instructor
- certified as proficient in firearms safety by any Wyoming law enforcement agency under procedures established by that agency
- honorable retirement as a federal or state peace officer who has a minimum of 10 years of service
Lander School Board Trustee Scott Jensen advocated for that approach last week, calling it the “prudent thing to do” in light of the uncertainty regarding liability concerns.
“(Let’s) just wait and see and not enact any rules,” he said. “Let the law control who’s allowed to do what and maybe wait a year (to) see what happens. Maybe there will be a little bit more clarity.”
Other trustees wanted to keep the training requirements in place, however.
“I’m willing to take on the risk of a lawsuit versus the risk of someone having slightly less training and that being the difference in how they respond in a nightmare scenario and how effectively they respond,” Trustee Mara Gans said. “So I’m an advocate of adopting the (amended policy) in order to enhance our training with the hope that, with more training …. it also makes it less likely that we are losing an individual.”
Trustee Aileen Brew agreed that “training enhances competency,” adding that the district-specific rules could also prompt staff members and volunteers to “really consider whether they have the skills that we need for them to be bringing a gun into our school around our children.”
“(They) might take a second look at the training requirements and maybe judge themselves lacking in the skills that they need,” Brew said. “If a series of rules can just maybe make people think and give pause and consider (whether) they will work to acquire those skills, I think that … can act as a very appropriate mechanism for just putting a short pause on the process.”
But Jensen said he would rather see “more competent adults armed in our buildings … so that they’re in a position to defend our kids if needed.”
“The more opportunity for that to happen, the fewer lives would be lost,” he said, reiterating that concealed carry permit holders have to “demonstrate some basic competence with a firearm.”
“(To) have more training is great, and we would wish everybody could have the maximum amount,” he said. “But presumably these are people that have demonstrated some degree of competence because they qualify for the permit.”
Gans countered that someone who is granted a concealed carry permit because they’ve demonstrated familiarity with firearms through participation in an organized handgun shooting competition, for example, doesn’t necessarily have “training in how to manage or mitigate risk within a school building when there are bystanders and students in place.”
“I (have) the utmost respect for someone who has participated in professional shooting competitions – I bet they have phenomenal accuracy,” she said. “(But) there’s more to training than the accuracy of how well you can shoot.”
Lander Superintendent Mike Harris said 33 of Wyoming’s 48 school districts responded to a recent information-sharing survey about concealed carry policies, with four indicating that they were not adopting rules regulating staff members and volunteers who carry concealed weapons, seven indicating that they were creating or amending rules, nine indicating that they were creating policies, and 13 leaving the question blank, meaning they likely “haven’t decided” how to proceed.
“They’re all over the place,” Harris said. “I think every district is kind of going with their gut on it.”
For more information, call Fremont County School District 1 at (307) 332-4711.