OPINION & EDITORIAL
They voted for what?
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Also by Paul Temple:
- Stop genocide in Darfur (April 28, 2005)
- America turns blind eye to Darfur (December 5, 2005)
- Examining The Badger Herald from outside (January 26, 2006)
- Newspapers must take extreme care in dealing with victim identity (February 2, 2006)
- Editorial on Covenant plan inadequately researched (February 9, 2006)
Related Stories:
- Vote gives no shot for guns (November 16, 2006)
- Concealed-carry not right for Wisconsin (February 6, 2006)
- Halloween should be fun, not embarrassing (November 6, 2003)
- Halloween celebration marred by unruly few (November 3, 2003)
- Legislators: Override Doyle on conceal and carry (January 22, 2004)
by Paul Temple
Thursday, November 6, 2003
This past Friday, a UW-Whitewater student was arrested during the State Street Halloween celebrations for carrying a .9 mm handgun and an extra ammunition clip.
And late last night, the Wisconsin State Assembly passed a proposal that would allow residents to carry such concealed weapons in the State of Wisconsin. Thankfully, it is sure to receive the governor’s veto.
But that veto may not hold.
That’s right. Our Wisconsin State Legislature, in its beneficent wisdom and power, may go so far as to approve a conceal-and-carry bill by a margin of two-thirds. Sen. David Zien (R-Eau Claire), one of the primary sponsors of the bill, touted its original passage in the Senate, saying, “The 24-to-8 vote ensures that we have more than enough votes to override any possible veto.”
But wait, you say — aren’t the citizens of Wisconsin opposed to such a law? The answer: a resounding yes. According to a poll conducted by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The Capital Times, more than two-thirds, or 69 percent, of residents oppose, in general, “a proposal to allow people who can legally own handguns to carry concealed weapons in most public places.”
And, according to a survey sponsored by the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, “Twice as many Wisconsin adults (62 percent) oppose allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons as favor it (31 percent). Even among gun owners, a majority is opposed to allowing concealed weapons.”
Why, then, does the legislature feel so compelled to pass this legislation? More importantly, why did it originally pass the State Senate by a 24-to-8 margin?
The answer can be found in two places: the gun lobby and a small number of politicians more concerned with their political futures than the safety of their own constituents.
I am not surprised at the first — the gun lobby has poured upwards of $100,000 into legislative campaigns throughout Wisconsin since the mid-1990s in one form or another, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a non-profit group that tracks campaign contributions. And the gun lobby is in bed with the Republican Party — it’s no secret.
The real surprise, or perhaps more accurately, the real disappointment, lies with the six Democratic state senators who crossed party lines to join the Senate Republicans supporting this bill, S.B. 214: Sen. Roger Breske (D-Eland), Sen. Russ Decker (D-Schofield), Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point), Sen. Mark Meyer (D-La Crosse), Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee) and Sen. Robert Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie).
Many of these state senators face an uncertain future. Plale’s old assembly seat was just taken by a Republican, the first to hold it in decades. Rumors circulate around the Capitol of a possible recall against him. Breske and Decker have been long-time targets of Republicans hoping to nail them on a vote that their northern, primarily rural constituencies oppose.
But what about the law itself? Did these legislators stop to think about what the ramifications could be for Wisconsin citizens and for their constituents if this law were to be put into effect?
Many, and some on this very page, have argued that the conceal-and-carry law would positively affect safety. One columnist even posed the interesting scenario, “Imagine yourself passing a stranger on the street, knowing that he or she could be carrying a concealed weapon.”
I have — as have the people of Wisconsin, eight reasonable Democratic state senators, the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association , the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association and the Wisconsin Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs Association.
And, coincidentally, we all agree that this bill will not increase safety or decrease crime. According to James Cardinal, executive director of the Wisconsin Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs Association (a group that might have a bit of insight on safety issues), “The main job for those in law enforcement is to protect and serve. Placing over 37,000 handguns in the hands of Wisconsin’s citizens potentially places the lives of thousands of Wisconsin’s law-enforcement officers at risk.”
He’s absolutely right. Increasing safety should not go hand-in-hand with a policy that encourages people to own guns.
In my mind, if a citizen must own a gun and for some strange reason feels compelled to have it at all times, that citizen should keep it visible at all times. I should not have to leave State Street Brats at bar time wondering if the drunk guy next to me has a glock in his pocket. That isn’t freedom — it’s fear.
This bill is not about what the people want. It is not about safety. It is not about doing something to help law enforcement.
So I’d like to know why six of my fellow Democrats have chosen to vote for it.
Paul Temple (ptemple@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in political science and philosophy. He is a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
