Wyoming committee advances firearm-hold-agreement bill with NFA exclusion; passes 13–1

A Wyoming legislative interim committee on Tuesday passed a bill draft to create statutory protection for people who temporarily hold another person’s firearm under an agreed “firearm hold agreement.” Committee members approved 25LSO0082 as amended by a 13–1 roll-call vote.

Talise Hanson, staff attorney with the Legislative Service Office, walked the panel through the draft, which would add a new Wyoming statute creating firearm hold agreements, define that term and provide that “no cause of action shall arise against a person for returning a firearm to a firearm owner at the termination of a firearm hold agreement,” subject to exceptions for breach of contract or unlawful conduct. The draft sets an effective date for filings and agreements on or after July 1, 2025.

Sponsor remarks framed the effort as a voluntary, liability-limiting tool to help reduce suicides. The bill’s sponsor told the committee that available state data for 2021–22 showed roughly 70 percent (he cited 71 percent) of Wyoming suicides involved a firearm, and that creating a simple avenue for temporarily removing access could create a small additional safety buffer for people in crisis.

Members questioned several practical and legal points: whether losses from theft or fire would be covered (Hanson said such protections could be added as contractual terms), and whether returning a gun could run afoul of a changed protection order (Hanson noted the statute’s definition requires the firearm owner to be lawfully in possession and that the issue may affect applicability).

Senator Kolb and others raised a specific concern about National Firearms Act (NFA) items (for example, suppressors, short-barreled rifles) and trusts that hold NFA items. The sponsor agreed that the committee should avoid creating liability that would encourage violations of federal NFA rules and supported adding language to exclude NFA-regulated items. The committee voted to allow work on that amendment and later adopted an exclusion during floor consideration of amendments.

After debate on a separate suggested change to broaden the definition of ‘hold’ (for example, language to cover disabling use by locking a safe), which the committee rejected as legally imprecise, the bill returned to the dais. The committee approved the amended draft by roll call, 13 in favor and 1 opposed.

The draft as presented tracks a model based in part on Montana’s statute and includes a cross-reference to existing Wyoming statutory definitions of “person.” Hanson noted the committee must still settle precise drafting choices for the NFA exclusion and whether to specify additional contractual protections such as coverage for intentional loss events.

The committee recorded the roll call, and the bill will return to committee processes for drafting final language and next steps.

What’s next: The committee approved moving forward with the bill as amended; LSO will incorporate the NFA exclusion language and present the revised draft for future consideration. The bill’s proposed effective date in the draft is July 1, 2025.