At a Wyoming State Shooting Complex Joint Powers Board meeting in January, Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, said he’d do what he could to get into the budget bill $5 million from state funds that had originally been appropriated for the shooting complex back in 2023, but not included in the final, last-second $10 million appropriation last session. 

On Tuesday he accomplished that goal, getting inclusion of the funds to supplement the previous allocation in a 20-11 vote following a lengthy discussion that included criticisms of the funding by Sen. Tim French, R-Powell. 

Late Wednesday night the House joined the Senate in approving an additional $5 million for the complex, meaning both budgets being advanced now included what the complex joint powers board has said it needs to complete the project, alongside roughly $6 million being raised via donations and sponsorships. See Tuesday’s print edition for more on the House and the next steps in the process.

What the amendment does, essentially, is give authority to transfer the money from a $10 million account previously set up for the shooting complex, but not used last year after the supplemental budget was scrapped and legislators scrambled to take $10 million from the general fund to fund the complex. Until the supplemental budget was scrapped, the complex was set to receive $13.5 million in funding, as well as a pledge for $250,000 per year from state parks, which owns the land south of Cody the complex is being constructed on.

To finally redress the shortfall, the bill takes the money from that previously set up account of $10 million, delivering $5 million to the shooting complex ($2.5 million each from tourism and Game and Fish) while the other $5 million is returned to the general fund. 

“This will be a great, great thing for our state,” Laursen said in introducing the amendment, mentioning that the complex has had a lot of interest from national organizations, one of which could possibly provide up to $2 million to support the complex (the joint powers board has pledged to raise over $6 million to help fund the complex). 

French was the first senator to object to the amendment, urging a no vote and for the Legislature to wait and see if private funds come in before devoting more public funds to the project. 

“I'm against this,” he said. “The original deal back in 2023 was we'll give $10 million seed money for this. No more. Suddenly, now it's up to $15 [million].”

He added that the complex was “losing support rapidly,” even in Park County. 

Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, one of the original supporters of the idea of a Wyoming State Shooting Complex, replied that the joint powers board is not asking for any more than they’ve asked for before. 

“They're saying, ‘please allow us to have access to the money that was appropriated in 2023,’” he said. “And why is that important? Because they came before the general appropriations committee a year ago, they submitted a budget, and they had a budget that it's going to be a little over $20 million to build this facility … So we need to do what we said we're going to do, and we're going to build a world class shooting sports facility.”

‘All the big name manufacturers’ interested in shooting complex

As work progresses on the Wyoming State Shooting Complex, big name firearms companies are showing interest in supporting the project and professional shooting organizations are eager to compete at the site south of Cody.

That’s the report from complex CEO Patrick Giles and board member Danny Michael, who were both at last month’s SHOT Show in Las Vegas, the country’s premier shooting sports show. 

“Patrick [Giles] worked very hard, met with a ton of companies, had very positive discussions,” Michael said. 

Those companies included Beretta, Smith and Wesson, Springfield, Weatherby and many others. 

“People were really excited in the industry about this project,” Michael said. “All the big name manufacturers you would expect have some level of interest in the project. … They’re very eager to be a part.”

Through chair Glenn Ross, Giles asked to be able to work with outside counsel to put together sponsorship contracts as negotiations continue. 

That’s good news for the complex as it seeks to convince state lawmakers to include $5 million of previously appropriated funds for the project within this year’s budget; Giles was in Cheyenne last week to meet with legislators.

The state has already provided $10 million worth of funds for the complex, while the organization has pledged to raise $6 million of its own. At a recent meeting, multiple area legislators stressed the importance of the complex showing progress on its fundraising.

Scheduling matches

At last week’s board meeting, Giles also reported progress on connecting with professional shooting organizations to schedule events once the shooting complex opens, tentatively in early 2027. 

Ross said Giles reported an agreement to host a national match that summer, although it was too early to name the organization. 

In talking to the competition groups, Michaels said it was beneficial to understand just what they are expecting in a venue after previously hearing from so many people what they need to include. 

“From the horse’s mouth, how many bays, how many fields,” he said. “We got good one-on-one conversations.”

Construction progress

After successful votes to begin more roadwork, board member James Klessens said it’ll be important for those members and staff in Cheyenne this week to ask for funding to note that 60% of the main road network through the complex should be completed within the month. 

That’s huge, Klessens said, because it will allow work to continue even if the weather doesn’t remain spring-like, which has contributed to how much progress has been made so far. 

That progress then allows for Giles to continue moving forward on attracting more sponsors and more events as the complex continues to take shape. 

With most of the roadwork in place, crews will then be able to do the massive amount of dirt work needed to do the lengthy series of pistol/rifle bays, which Michaels said has become one of the premier venues as far as bringing in big events. 

“If we build what we propose [with pistol/rifle bays], and with one of the best long ranges in the country, then really spectacular sporting clays, then we have three spectacular ways to get people here,” Klessens said.