Rep. Evan Goyke, D-Milwaukee, refers to the violence in his neighborhood as a “mass shooting in slow motion.”
As Americans nationwide have reeled in the wake of mass shootings at Newton, Conn.; the Sikh temple in Oak Creek; and most recently at the Washington D.C. Naval Yard, Goyke’s urban district experienced 19 gun-related homicides in the last year, many of them with multiple victims.
Wisconsin has experienced 25 mass shootings, which are defined as shootings where three or more people are killed, since 1985, which have resulted in 105 deaths, according to data compiled by the Wisconsin Center on Investigative Journalism.
“The Monday shooting at the naval yard is another reminder of what is possible if we don’t do anything,” Goyke said.
Goyke and other legislators introduced gun control bills in April and June to ban assault weapons and include universal background checks, among other measures, but have not received a public hearing for their bills.
Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice chair, did not return calls for comment.
“We have asked over and over again in person, on the record and in writing, to hold a public hearing, but we have gotten no hearing but also no response,” Goyke said. “I can’t say why we haven’t, but the people of Wisconsin certainly deserve to have a hearing.”
Jeff Nass, president of Wisconsin Firearm Owners, Rangers, Clubs and Educators Inc., a National Rifle Association-chartered organization that lobbied against Goyke’s bills, said restricting gun rights would not have an effect on mass shootings.
He added in the case of the Naval Yard shooting Monday, the gun used by gunman Aaron Alexis was purchased legally, and the shooting could have been prevented if Naval personnel were permitted to carry guns.
“Law enforcement is not with you 24 hours a day,” Nass said. “It gives you the opportunity in most cases to protect yourself. [Personnel] on the navy yard are prohibited from carrying, so they took the right to self defense away, and obviously they had security, but it was not enough.”
Goyke said the suspect in the shooting at the Azana Spa in Brookfield in October 2012 was able to purchase a gun online without a required background check.
“Because there is no background check required on Internet sales of guns, no one checked to see that he had a valid restraining order prohibiting him from buying a firearms,” Goyke said. “He bought it and used it in a matter of days.”
The shooter, Radcliffe Haughton, had a court order prohibiting him from carrying a firearm after his wife filed a restraining order against him only days before the shooting, Goyke said.
Nass said it is disappointing to see left-leaning legislators jumping towards gun control as a solution to mass shootings, especially when the media often reports information about shootings inaccurately.
“Immediately on television [after the Naval Yard shooting], there were certain stations and newspapers saying it was another AR-15 [assault rifle], and we found out it was totally inaccurate,” Nass said. “You’re getting information from people who are clueless about firearms.”
Michael Scott, a University of Wisconsin law professor and a former police officer, said changes to gun laws are not likely to have a significant impact on the number of shootings in each state in the short term and any impact would take a long time to be detected.
