Over 30 individuals—a majority of them students from the University of Wyoming— worked together to organize a protest against the passing of a bill that seeks to repeal gun-free zones across Wyoming, including schools and government premises.
The bill, known officially as House Bill 172, is not new; in fact, there have been several attempts to pass similar bills through the Wyoming legislature in the recent past. In 2024, a nearly-identical bill known as HB125 passed through the House and made it into Committee before failing to receive sufficient support from members.
UW students testified against the bill, alongside advocacy groups like Moms Against Action and state stakeholders worried about the bill’s implications. Governor Mark Gordon also vetoed the bill. In a public letter detailing his reasoning for the veto, he cited concerns in its language and highlighted the potential for “loopholes such as putting a family services caseworker at risk of being charged with a misdemeanor for simply asking someone they knew to be carrying a firearm to leave a building in order to defuse an emotionally charged family situation.”
Through a legislative loophole, HB125 was revived and retitled. On Feb 13, the Senate Judiciary Committee received the bill and allowed for public testimony on its contents. Mirroring the year before, six UW students testified against the bill, citing concerns of a potential rise in suicides in dorms and less safety on campus. Other notable speakers included Mark Jones, a representative of Gun Owners of America, who advocated for the passing of the bill.
HB172 would go on to pass through the Committee, eventually only awaiting the approval of Governor Gordon. In an attempt to sway his decision, UW students worked together to organize and promote a “die-in” on Instagram. Known also as a “lie-in,” the form of protest involves participants lying scattered and motionless on the ground to simulate corpses. The form of protest has historically been used to protest everything from animal rights to environmental issues and has been commonly used to protest gun control due to its symbolism and emphasis on peace and silence. Primarily leading the organization and promotion of the protest was Sophia Gomelsky – one of the students who testified against the bill in 2024 and again on February 13th. In an interview two days before the event, Gomelsky shared her thoughts on the bill.
“The reality is that the gun bill would allow firearms in places like dorms,” Gomelksy said. “The people that are in dorms at the University or community colleges are young people—maybe not even 21 yet—and we have the highest suicide rate in the entire country, Wyoming does. And so the outcome of that is pretty clear. I mean, if you allow a teenager or somebody else that is not even really an adult to have a firearm under their bed, and we have the highest suicide rate in the country… I mean, the results are clear.”
When asked why she organized a die-in protest, she stated, “There have been a lot of powerful gun lobbyists and strong voices that have pushed for the bill, but the reality is that students and teachers and communities don’t want it. And so people need to see students literally dead on the ground to simulate what it would be like if it passed.”
Gomelsky shared her beliefs on student protest as well, stating, “What a lot of students—and especially young people—don’t realize is that their voice does matter, but it matters so much more than they think it does. So when we have protests for bills, it’s important for people to come down and to talk about them in committee. It’s important that people speak to their legislators. It’s important that they call an email and that they Zoom in to, you know, testify about things. It’s so incredibly important, especially in a state like Wyoming, where, you know, ten phone calls could be the difference between a bill passing or a bill failing.”
The protest against the passing of HB172 occurred on Monday, with around 25 university students as well as several civilians and high schoolers showing up to the state Capitol in Cheyenne to participate. Oscar Knievel, a freshman at UW, was one of those students. Sharing his reasons for being there, he stated, “I really think it’s a dangerous and unnecessary thing to do. I’m concerned about the kind of precedent it could set as well. The danger of firearms in Wyoming is more immediate than it seems than some other states, so I just feel that a campus isn’t a place to have firearms.” Like several others protesting, he wore a white shirt with fake bloodstains on it.
Another student, junior Carter Worcester, espoused a similar sentiment, saying, “All of us are united in one cause, which is protection of children and individuals of any age in all of our Wyoming communities.”
The protest began at around 2 p.m., with a group of protestors splaying their bodies outside of Governor Gordon’s office. Humming Amazing Grace, protesters laid supine for around half an hour as Wyoming State Highway Patrol troopers and state politicians made an effort to avoid tripping over their limbs. When the protest ended, Laramie County Representative Daniel Singh, who voted in favor of HB172, came to visit the protestors at his feet and briefly spoke with Sophia Gomelsky. When asked why he believed the bill was so controversial, Singh stated, “No one’s wrong for being afraid of gun violence. I think it would be wrong to say that anyone that is in possession of a firearm—that legally possesses it—to assume that they are going to commit violence, I think that’s my logical hangup. And that’s where I’ve decided I support the bill.”
