‘There is not a doubt in my mind that Stand-Your-Ground law ONLY became law here in Wyoming because of the relentless pressure of Wyoming Gun Owners members!’
That’s what one lawmaker told me last night as the word came down that Governor Mead was taking no action on H.B. 168 — meaning that at 12:01am this morning our fight to pass Stand-Your-Ground law was victorious!
This means no more having to retreat an arbitrary number of steps before defending your family from a violent criminal!
No more winding up broke because of a bogus civil lawsuit following a proper self-defense shooting!
No more having to deal with blatantly trumped up criminal charges related to you defending yourself!
The Stand-Your-Ground law taking effect in Wyoming on July 1, 2018, is one of the most comprehensive self-defense bills in the country!
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to tell you that NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT YOU!
WYGO members and donors gave us the resources we needed to deploy mountains of direct mail gathering petitions, paying for aggressive social media efforts, and deploying radio ads state wide!
WYGO activists made thousands of phone calls and sent countless emails into the Capitol and the Governor’s office to ensure that this bill wasn’t killed.
And many WYGO supporters came to Cheyenne to join with WYGO staff to testify in support of this bill in the committee process.
Hands down, this was one of the best displays of grassroots action that I’ve seen in a long time!
And every bit of it was necessary.
From back-stabbing Republicans claiming to be pro-gun before betraying us on the Floor, to hostile media trying to shut us down at every turn, to overly anti-gun Democrat amendments that were deigned to weaken the bill –- passing Stand-Your-Ground was nothing short of a 22-day war!
Of course, all of that effort was needed to simply pass the bill through the legislature.
The past 96 hours, trying to convince Governor Mead to not veto this bill took every ounce of grassroots effort we could muster.
Many of you saw these full-page ads (as well as online equivalents) running in the Casper and Cheyenne newspapers for the past couple of days.
Of course the ad is full of lies from top to bottom, but they had an effect on Governor Mead.
Sadly, due to this pressure, Governor Mead refused to sign Stand-Your-Ground legislation into law and simply took no action on it, meaning that the bill passed by default.
Having spoken with the Governor personally in the Capitol yesterday afternoon on behalf of WYGO members, I can assure you that we were on the verge of a veto.
But at every step in this process you answered the call for help and fired off emails and made phone calls to lawmakers, contributed financially, and refused to let up!
SO THIS IS YOUR VICTORY.
Of course, we would be remiss in not thanking Sen. Anthony Bouchard and Rep. Tim Salazar for their tireless efforts in the legislature in support of this bill.
Since last summer when we first approached him, Senator Bouchard worked on draft after draft of this bill and worked hard to gather an impressive number of his colleagues to cosponsor the bill.
And all session long, Senator Bouchard worked to advance the bill through countless ambushes and pitfalls.
In the House, Representative Salazar did the same thing, and never gave up despite mounting pressure to let the bill die.
(From right to left, Rep. Tim Salazar, Travis Couture-Lovelady with NRA, Aaron Dorr with WYGO, and Senator Anthony Bouchard.)
Many legislators in Cheyenne — almost every legislator in fact — claims to be pro-gun while many of them are not.
But very few legislators will stand up and fight for the Second Amendment like Sen. Bouchard and Rep. Salazar did this year.
Please be sure to thank them.
Of course, the fight for the Second Amendment is not over here in Wyoming as so called ‘Gun Free Zones’ are a real issue here.
After all, it doesn’t matter that Wyoming has Constitutional Carry laws and, effective July 1st, Stand-Your-Ground law, if you are forced to disarm in public due to state mandated ‘Gun Free Zones!’
But that’s another fight.
For today, savor the taste of this hard-fought and well-earned victory!
For Freedom,
Aaron Dorr
Policy Advisor
Wyoming Gun Owners
P.S. Weak kneed lawmakers opposed us, the media opposed us, Bloomberg opposed us, and the Governor wouldn’t back the bill -– but at midnight this morning Stand-Your-Ground legislation passed into law in Wyoming!
This is a major victory for Wyoming Gun Owners members, activists, and supporters, as Wyoming will officially become the 36th Stand-Your-Ground law state on July 1!
Thank you for all of your activism this session, this is your victory!
If you are not yet a member of Wyoming Gun Owners, please join TODAY!
