Casper staff explain minor municipal code amendment to align with Wyoming concealed-carry statute

City staff told the Casper City Council on Oct. 11 that a narrow amendment to the municipal code is needed to bring local rules into alignment with a newly enacted Wyoming statute regarding concealed firearms in public facilities and at public meetings.

"As you know, at the last special meeting, we did approve a citywide policy and resolution. This is an amendment, to our municipal code that is needed to bring it into compliance with, the newly enacted, statute, regarding, concealed firearms in public, facilities, and public meetings," a city staff member said. The staff member described the change as "a very minor change that's intentional" and said it was designed to provide flexibility so that the council could update policies or the resolution more quickly in response to statutory changes.

Staff explained the rationale: changing the ordinance is more cumbersome because it requires three readings and public hearings, while a resolution can be adjusted more quickly. The staff member warned that without the municipal-code amendment, the current ordinance could be preempted by the state statute and lose effect.

The transcript shows the council had previously approved the related policy and resolution at a special meeting; no formal vote on the municipal-code amendment appears in the portion of the meeting transcript provided. Staff asked if the council had questions about the agenda-review item; none were recorded in the transcript excerpt.

Staff did not provide the statute citation in the meeting transcript and did not propose specific ordinance text during the excerpted discussion. City staff said the change was intended to ensure local rules remain consistent with Wyoming law and allow the city to use the faster resolution process for future adjustments if needed.