Kylee Harless
Online Editor
Last week, students from Laramie High School took to the Senate legislature to lobby for a gun file which would have a three day waiting period after purchasing a handgun in an attempt to lower rates of death by suicide. This comes in lue of a recent death by suicide at the high school.
“No, the rates will not go down,” said Callie Clingman, a UW student. “All that will happen is the people will wait 3 days to then take their own life. Not only that but it will also make it harder for gun owners to get a gun to go to recreational things.”
According to the file, a handgun is defined as “a firearm designed to be operated with one hand including, without limitation, a pistol, derringer or revolver.”
The file also outlines a few rules where the waiting period would not be enforced. According to the bill a “Subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to the sale and delivery of a handgun if another handgun is exchanged or otherwise traded in by the purchaser during the same transaction.”
In this section of the file, it is written if the handgun is being exchanged, the person who buys the handgun will not have to wait three days. The last section discusses how a person with convictions can not purchase a handgun.
“Any firearms dealer who violates subsection (a) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, a fine of not more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), or both,” according to the bill. “A person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of subsection (a) of this section is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than two (2) years, a fine of not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000.00), or both.”
“Obviously this isn’t a total solution. It’s not intended to be. It’s intended to be a step in the direction of suicide prevention,” said Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, in a Laramie Boomerang interview. “If you try to commit suicide by an alternative means, often times you survive, it’s identified as a crisis and you’re able to seek counseling and support. … This is not about trying to take anyone’s guns away or not being able to have a firearm, but it’s to prevent that circumstance where somebody thinks ‘I just can’t take it any longer and I’m going to go buy a gun and end it.’ It might save a life.”
However, the file failed to be introduced into the Senate and was rejected.
