Parents send their children to school each morning with the expectation that they will safely return home each afternoon. We entrust their safety to the teachers and staff of their respective schools with the understanding that they care for our children as much as we do.
Over the past several years, we have seen school shooting after school shooting where teachers literally laid down their lives to protect their students. In the past five years, the Wyoming Legislature has attempted to repeal all gun-free zones in the state which would allow anyone to carry a firearm into areas such as public schools. The last attempt cleared both chambers of the legislature before being vetoed by Governor Mark Gordon. With the victories of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, it is likely that a similar bill will be introduced in 2025 and that there may be enough votes to override the governor’s veto.
With that in mind, we at the Saratoga Sun commend the Carbon County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees for discussing the heavy topic of whether or not to draft a policy to allow teachers and staff to conceal carry firearms on school grounds. We also commend our local law enforcement for contributing to this conversation. This is not a discussion that anybody wants to have. In a perfect world, there would be no need for such a discussion.
There seems to be little done at the national level, however, to attempt to effectively curtail the number of school shootings since Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland or Uvalde.
The school board, as Chairwoman Kassey Westring said, is at square one with this proposed policy and the district is taking guidance from current state statute and existing policies from Park County School District No. 6 and Uinta County School District No. 1. We encourage our readers to read both of those policies and the state statute. All three documents include requirements for staff to be able to concealed carry on campuses, which includes:
While we do commend the Carbon County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees for discussing a potential policy, we cannot overstate the added burden this puts on our educators. As Encampment Police Chief Kevin Shue said during the work session, we are now asking teachers to be police officers. This is not something they signed up for. Should such a concealed carry policy be enacted, we firmly believe any educator or staff member who chooses to carry a firearm will not take such a responsibility lightly.
Finally, we encourage our readers—especially those who are parents—to reach out to school board members or Superintendent Darrin Jennings to respectfully express their opinion on the matter. We also encourage readers and community members to attend any meetings the school district will hold on the topic in the future.
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