The Wyoming House Judiciary Commitee voted in favor of Senate file 102 on Tuesday.

The legislation would prevent state officials and agencies from enforcing any federal gun control legislation that would violate the right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment. With the committee vote, the bill now moves on to the full Wyoming House of Representatives.

It has already passed the Wyoming Senate

Aaron Dorr of Wyoming Gun Owners told the committee that the legislation is flawed because it would leave enforcement in the hands of county and district attorneys across the state. Dorr told the committee that another gun bill that has died for this session, the Second Amendment Preservation Act, would have allowed indivual citizens to take legal action against state officials or agencies that violate the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Dorr questioned whether any such prosecuting attorneys would ever take such action, especially against agencies they may may work with on a regular basis. He called the bill meaningless.

But Byron Oedekoven of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police [WASCOP] told the committee that all 23 Wyoming county sheriff's support Senate File 102 as it currently stands. Oedekoven told the committee that the county sheriffs had issues with a 2021 Second Amendment bill because it could strip law enforcement officers of qualified immunity under some circumstances. in regard to charges that the current bill is meaningless because prosecutors might choose not to enforce the prohibtion against unconstitutional gun laws,

Oedekoven said he doesn't think either Wyoming law enforcement or prosecuting attorneys would stand by and allow that to happen. ''No, I don't see that happening in the state of Wyoming" Oedekoven said.

In the end, the committee voted 6-3 to send the bill onto the full house. Reps. Yin, Provenza and Dan Laursen voted against the bill. Committee Chair Rep. Jared Olsen and Reps. Washut, Zwonitzer, Rodriguez-Williams, Crago and Oakley voted for the measure.

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