Wyoming Pepper Spray and Stun Gun Laws (2026)

Wyoming has no statute that names pepper spray, tear gas, or a stun gun anywhere in its criminal code. Both devices fall, if at all, under a single broad "deadly weapon" definition that is not limited to its own listed examples and turns on how an item is actually used or intended to be used, not on what the item is called. That structure leaves ordinary possession and sale of either device unrestricted, but the classification question is not academic: causing bodily injury with a deadly weapon, or drawing and threatening with one, is a felony punishable by up to ten years unless the actor's use of force was reasonable self-defense under Wyoming's separate self-defense statute, and a separate state preemption statute is also not limited to firearms.

Jurisdiction scope: This page covers Wyoming state law only, principally W.S. 6-1-104, 6-2-502, 6-5-209, 6-8-103, 6-8-104, 6-8-105, 6-8-401, 15-1-103, and 21-4-306. It does not cover the concealed-carry permit application process in detail or any municipal ordinance that may separately address either device.

Is pepper spray legal in Wyoming?

Yes, in the ordinary sense that no Wyoming statute bans buying, owning, or carrying it. No section of Title 6 names pepper spray, OC spray, tear gas, or a chemical irritant device. The only statute that could theoretically reach it is the general "deadly weapon" definition at W.S. 6-1-104(a)(iv), which applies throughout Title 6: "'Deadly weapon' means but is not limited to a firearm, explosive or incendiary material, motorized vehicle, an animal or other device, instrument, material or substance, which in the manner it is used or is intended to be used is reasonably capable of producing death or serious bodily injury." The phrase "means but is not limited to" is what keeps that definition open past its own named examples, and it is the reason a device's classification is a real, fact-specific question rather than a closed list a reader can simply check against. An ordinary self-defense spray canister, carried and used as sold, is designed to temporarily incapacitate rather than to produce death or serious bodily injury, which cuts against treating it as a "deadly weapon" under the statute's own words, but nothing in the text exempts it outright. Wyoming's downstream weapons statutes, concealed carry (W.S. 6-8-104), possession with unlawful intent (W.S. 6-8-103), aggravated assault (W.S. 6-2-502), and taking a weapon into a jail, courtroom, or mental hospital (W.S. 6-5-209), all turn on that same "deadly weapon" definition rather than naming pepper spray separately. No age floor, capacity or formula limit, or purchase restriction specific to pepper spray appears anywhere in the sections that govern weapons in Wyoming.

Are stun guns legal in Wyoming?

Yes, on the same basis and with the same open question as pepper spray. No Wyoming statute names a stun gun, taser, or electric weapon. Whether one counts as a "deadly weapon" under W.S. 6-1-104(a)(iv) again depends on how it is used or intended to be used, and whether that manner of use is "reasonably capable of producing death or serious bodily injury." Wyoming's weapons chapter sets no stun-gun-specific permit, age minimum, or prohibited-persons list. Two statutes could reach a stun gun if it were found to be a "deadly weapon" on those facts: carrying one concealed without falling into an exception under W.S. 6-8-104(a), or possessing, manufacturing, transporting, repairing, or selling one "with intent to unlawfully threaten the life or physical well-being of another or to commit assault or inflict bodily injury on another" under W.S. 6-8-103, which is a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years, a fine of not more than $1,000, or both.

Aggravated assault: the statute where deadly-weapon classification is actually litigated

The question "does this device count as a deadly weapon" is not resolved in the abstract; it is decided when someone is charged. W.S. 6-2-502(a) defines aggravated assault and battery to include, among other conduct, a person who "attempts to cause, or intentionally or knowingly causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon," or who "threatens to use a drawn deadly weapon on another unless reasonably necessary in defense of his person, property or abode or to prevent serious bodily injury to another." Both are felonies: W.S. 6-2-502(b)(i) sets imprisonment of not more than ten years for a violation of these paragraphs. The self-defense qualifier written into paragraph (a)(iii) matters directly to an ordinary carrier: drawing and threatening with a pepper-spray canister or a stun gun that a court finds to be a "deadly weapon" is not itself the offense if doing so was reasonably necessary to defend a person, property, or abode, or to prevent serious bodily injury to another. Paragraph (a)(ii), causing bodily injury with a deadly weapon, carries no qualifier of its own in that sentence, but it is not a strict-liability felony either: Wyoming's separate self-defense statute, W.S. 6-2-602(a), makes the use of defensive force, whether actual or threatened, reasonable "when it is the defensive force that a reasonable person in like circumstances would judge necessary to prevent an injury or loss, and no more, including deadly force if necessary to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury to the person employing the deadly force or to another person." Deadly force, in other words, is reasonable only within that narrower limit, not simply whenever it is judged necessary to prevent an injury or loss. Subsection (f) states that "a person who uses reasonable defensive force as defined by subsection (a) of this section shall not be criminally prosecuted for that use of reasonable defensive force." That general protection, subject to the deadly-force limit above, applies to a prosecution under paragraph (a)(ii) the same as it does under (a)(iii); causing injury with either device is not a felony where the person acted within that self-defense standard.

Wyoming's concealed-carry statute and how it applies if a device counts as a "deadly weapon"

W.S. 6-8-104(a) makes wearing or carrying a "concealed deadly weapon" a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $750, imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or both, for a first offense, rising to a felony, a fine of not more than $2,000, imprisonment for not more than two years, or both, for a second or subsequent offense, unless the person is a peace officer, holds a permit issued under the section, holds a reciprocal out-of-state permit, or fits the permitless-carry exception in paragraph (a)(iv). That exception, and the background criteria it incorporates, are written in terms of a firearm: paragraph (a)(iv) covers a United States resident who is not required to hold a Wyoming permit but who otherwise meets the requirements in paragraphs (b)(ii) through (vi), (viii), and (ix), "and possession of the firearm by the person is not otherwise unlawful." Those incorporated criteria are themselves firearm-framed, for example paragraph (b)(iii)'s "does not suffer from a physical infirmity which prevents the safe handling of a firearm" and paragraph (b)(iv)'s "is not ineligible to possess a firearm." Whether that exception's firearm-specific language carries over cleanly to a non-firearm device a court has classified as a "deadly weapon" is a reading of the statute, not a point its text resolves directly; the most natural reading is that it does, since the exception's own opening clause speaks to "a concealed deadly weapon" generally, but a reader should know the closing condition and the incorporated criteria are worded around a firearm specifically.

A 2025 act changed where a lawful concealed carrier, including one carrying a device classified as a "deadly weapon," may go. W.S. 6-8-105, titled the "Wyoming Repeal Gun Free Zones Act," provides that a person lawfully carrying a concealed weapon under W.S. 6-8-104(a)(ii) through (iv) "may carry a concealed weapon" into any meeting of a governmental entity, any meeting of the legislature or a committee, most of a public airport, and any public building not otherwise prohibited under W.S. 6-8-104(t) or regulated by the Act itself. A permit holder under W.S. 6-8-104(a)(ii) specifically may also carry into a public school, college, or university facility, and into a public school, college, or university athletic event that does not sell alcohol. A person who knowingly prohibits a lawful carrier's entry into one of these places is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year, a fine of not more than $2,000, or both.

What remains of the older place restriction is narrower than it used to be, but it was already scoped to a firearm specifically, not a deadly weapon generally, before the 2025 act. That act's Section 2 amended only paragraph (t)(ix) (the school-facility item) and Section 3 repealed paragraphs (t)(iv) through (vi) and (x); the lead-in barring a "concealed firearm" is unchanged. What survives leaves a person authorized to carry concealed under paragraphs (a)(ii) through (iv) still barred from carrying a "concealed firearm" into a law-enforcement facility without written consent, a detention facility, prison, or jail, a courtroom without the presiding judge's authorization, the alcohol-service portion of a licensed establishment, an elementary or secondary school facility if the carrier is enrolled as a student at any elementary or secondary school, and any place federal or state law otherwise bars firearms. W.S. 6-8-104(y) defines "firearm" for the whole section, not just subsection (t): "any pistol, revolver or derringer, designed to be fired by the use of a single hand." A pepper-spray canister or a stun gun, even one a court would classify as a "deadly weapon," is not a pistol, revolver, or derringer, so subsection (t)'s place restriction does not reach it at all; only the general concealed-carry rule in subsection (a), and the newer W.S. 6-8-105 permissions, govern where such a device may go.

Where the "deadly weapon" definition creates real restrictions outside concealed carry

Beyond concealed carry, two places apply regardless of exactly how a court would classify pepper spray or a stun gun, because they are written to cover a "deadly weapon" broadly rather than a firearm specifically. W.S. 6-5-209(a) makes it a felony, punishable by imprisonment for not more than ten years, a fine of not more than $10,000, or both, to take or pass a deadly weapon, without authorization from the person in charge, into a jail, a state penal institution, the Wyoming Boys' School, the Wyoming Girls' School, a correctional facility operated by a private entity under W.S. 7-22-102, or the state hospital. Subsection (b) makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year, a fine of not more than $5,000, or both, to take a deadly weapon into a courtroom without the presiding judge's authorization, rising to a felony, a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment for not more than two years, or both, for a second or subsequent offense within five years.

W.S. 21-4-306(a)(v) and (c) requires a Wyoming school district to expel a K-12 student for one year for possessing, using, carrying, transferring, or selling a "deadly weapon" as defined in W.S. 6-1-104(a)(iv) on a school bus or on real property used primarily for K-12 education. A superintendent may modify the expulsion period case by case under subsection (d), but that same subsection also requires the superintendent to notify the district attorney of the violation and the student's name once notice and hearing requirements are met, a mandatory referral that runs alongside any modified expulsion term. Whether a particular pepper-spray canister or stun gun would be found to meet the "deadly weapon" definition in either setting is the same fact question described above, not a settled rule naming either device.

Local regulation: Wyoming's preemption is broad, but not absolute

W.S. 6-8-401(c) states that "the sale, transfer, purchase, delivery, taxation, manufacture, ownership, transportation, storage, use and possession of firearms, weapons and ammunition shall be authorized, regulated and prohibited by the state, and regulation thereof is preempted by the legislature of the state of Wyoming." The sentence that follows sets the actual limit on a city or county, and it carries an exception: "Except as authorized by W.S. 15-1-103(a)(xviii) and 23-1-302, no state agency, city, town, county, political subdivision or any other entity shall authorize, regulate or prohibit the sale, transfer, purchase, delivery, taxation, manufacture, ownership, transportation, storage, use, carrying or possession of firearms, weapons, accessories, components or ammunition except as specifically provided by this chapter." Unlike a preemption statute scoped only to firearms, this one repeatedly pairs "weapons" with "firearms" without narrowing the term, and the section does not separately define "weapon."

The cross-referenced exception is not narrow. W.S. 15-1-103(a)(xviii) gives the governing body of a city or town power to "regulate, prevent or suppress riots, disturbances, disorderly assemblies or parades, or any other conduct which disturbs or jeopardizes the public health, safety, peace or morality, in any public or private place." That is a general municipal police power over conduct, not a weapons-specific grant, and it is preserved on the face of the preemption statute itself. A targeted ordinance that names and bans the sale or possession of pepper spray or a stun gun as such would run directly into W.S. 6-8-401(c)'s preemption; an ordinance addressing how or where a device is carried, framed as regulating conduct that disturbs public health, safety, peace, or morality under the preserved municipal power, sits on more uncertain ground, and no reported Wyoming decision resolves how far that preserved power extends to a device like these. A reader should not treat either device as clearly outside all local regulation, or clearly protected from it.

Federal law: what it does and does not reach

No federal statute regulates a civilian's purchase or possession of pepper spray or a stun gun. Federal law matters in three places.

Federal buildings. Under 18 U.S.C. § 930(a), whoever knowingly possesses or causes to be present "a firearm or other dangerous weapon in a Federal facility (other than a Federal court facility)" faces a fine, imprisonment of up to 1 year, or both. Subsection (e) sets up to 2 years for a federal court facility, and subsection (b) up to 5 years where the weapon is intended to be used in a crime. Section 930(g)(2) defines the term:

The term "dangerous weapon" means a weapon, device, instrument, material, or substance, animate or inanimate, that is used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury, except that such term does not include a pocket knife with a blade of less than 2½ inches in length.

The definition names neither device. Whether a particular spray or stun gun is "readily capable of" causing serious bodily injury is a question of fact the statute does not answer. Subsection (d)(3) exempts "the lawful carrying of firearms or other dangerous weapons in a Federal facility incident to hunting or other lawful purposes," and subsection (h) requires notice of the ban to be posted at each public entrance. A "Federal facility" is "a building or part thereof owned or leased by the Federal Government, where Federal employees are regularly present for the purpose of performing their official duties."

Air travel. The Transportation Security Administration's screening rules, which are agency policy rather than statute, bar both devices from carry-on bags. One 4 fl. oz. (118 ml) container of mace or pepper spray is permitted in checked baggage if it has a safety mechanism to prevent accidental discharge, and sprays containing more than 2 percent by mass of tear gas (CS or CN) are prohibited in checked baggage. Tasers, stun guns and other electro-shock weapons may travel in checked baggage only if transported so the device cannot discharge accidentally. Airlines may set stricter rules.

National parks. National Park Service regulations prohibit possessing, carrying or using a "weapon" in a park area except as the regulations provide (36 CFR 2.4(b)(1)). 36 CFR 1.4 defines "weapon" to include an "irritant gas device" and any "weapon the possession of which is prohibited under the laws of the State in which the park area or portion thereof is located."

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Wyoming's pepper spray and stun gun laws as of September 2026. It is not legal advice. Consult a lawyer licensed in Wyoming for advice about a specific situation.

For a state-by-state comparison, see pepper spray and stun gun laws by state. Wyoming's self-defense statutes are covered separately on the Wyoming self-defense laws page.

Statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-09-23. Last updated: 2026-09-23.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Wyoming have a law specifically about pepper spray or stun guns?

No. No section of Title 6 (Wyoming's criminal code) names pepper spray, tear gas, a stun gun, taser, or electric weapon. Both devices are addressed, if at all, only through the general 'deadly weapon' definition in W.S. 6-1-104(a)(iv), which 'means but is not limited to' its own listed examples and turns on how the item is used or intended to be used.

Do I need a permit to carry pepper spray or a stun gun in Wyoming?

No device-specific permit exists. Wyoming's concealed-weapon statute, W.S. 6-8-104, applies only if a device is classified as a 'deadly weapon' on its facts, and even then an eligible adult can generally carry it without a permit under the section's own permitless-carry exception, though that exception's background criteria are written in terms of a firearm.

What happens if pepper spray or a stun gun is used to hurt someone in Wyoming?

It can be aggravated assault and battery under W.S. 6-2-502, a felony punishable by up to ten years, if the device is found to be a 'deadly weapon' and is used to cause bodily injury, or if it is drawn and used to threaten someone. Either branch is subject to Wyoming's self-defense statute, W.S. 6-2-602: defensive force is reasonable when it is what 'a reasonable person in like circumstances would judge necessary to prevent an injury or loss, and no more,' with deadly force reasonable only within the narrower limit of what is 'necessary to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury to the person employing the deadly force or to another person,' and a person who uses reasonable defensive force under that standard 'shall not be criminally prosecuted for that use of reasonable defensive force.'

Can I carry pepper spray or a stun gun into a Wyoming courthouse or jail?

Not without authorization if it is treated as a 'deadly weapon.' W.S. 6-5-209 makes taking a deadly weapon into a jail, state penal institution, or similar facility a felony without the facility's authorization, and taking one into a courtroom without the presiding judge's authorization a misdemeanor rising to a felony on a repeat offense.

Can a Wyoming city or county ban pepper spray or stun guns even though state law does not name them?

It is genuinely unresolved. W.S. 6-8-401(c) preempts local regulation of the sale, transfer, ownership, use, carrying, and possession of 'firearms, weapons and ammunition,' pairing 'weapons' with 'firearms' rather than limiting the preemption to firearms alone, which would block a targeted local ban. But the preemption statute itself carves out W.S. 15-1-103(a)(xviii), a general municipal power to regulate conduct that disturbs or jeopardizes public health, safety, peace, or morality, and no reported Wyoming decision says how far that preserved power reaches a device like these.

Can a Wyoming student be expelled for having pepper spray or a stun gun at school?

If the device is found to meet the 'deadly weapon' definition in W.S. 6-1-104(a)(iv), yes. W.S. 21-4-306(a)(v) requires a one-year expulsion for possessing, using, carrying, transferring, or selling a deadly weapon on a school bus or on property used primarily for K-12 education, subject to case-by-case modification by the superintendent, who must also notify the district attorney of the violation.