Senate committee advances bill barring local enforcement of federal gun laws, adds civil and criminal penalties

At a committee hearing of the Agriculture, State & Public Lands & Water Resources Committee, senators voted to advance Senate File 196 as amended, a bill that would bar Wyoming law enforcement from enforcing federal laws, orders or regulations related to firearms and allow civil damages against agencies that violate the law while reinstating criminal penalties that had been removed in the bill’s original draft.

The bill’s supporters said SF 196 closes gaps they say exist in the state’s Second Amendment Protection Act (SAPA). Vice President David Salazar (introducing the bill on the floor) and witnesses for Wyoming Gun Owners described new language that would create a civil cause of action — “shall issue” damages — against agencies that knowingly enforce federal gun controls, and would prohibit the federal government from using Wyoming officers in task forces or using federal funds to pay Wyoming agencies to enforce such federal rules.

Senator Salazar told the committee the amendment now before members “reinstates criminal penalties into the SAPA law,” producing a combination of civil and criminal remedies. Aaron Doar of Wyoming Gun Owners said the organization supports SF 196 and that the bill “would plug some of the gaps that exist in existing SAFA law, which passed in 2022.” He described the civil penalties section as appearing on “page 5” of the draft and said the civil remedy targets agencies rather than individual officers.

Severa…