Anti-gun Dems Kill CCW Bill In Wisconsin
by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
In a move that infuriated gun rights activists in Wisconsin, two anti-gun Senate Democrats successfully blocked a vote on the Personal Protection Act, AB-675, sponsored by Rep. Scott Gunderson (R-Town of Norway), which would have brought licensed concealed carry to the state, in an evening vote on March 12.
State Sen. Dave Zien (R-Eau Claire) was furious, insisting that Democrats pulled a procedural maneuver to prevent the bill from going to a full floor vote. Zien insisted that Senate Democrat leaders knew there were enough votes for concealed carry to pass the Senate, and they wanted the measure killed.
“What the Senate Democrats did was unconscionable and dastardly,” Zien said, “and it was done because they knew we had the votes.”
He told Gun Week that the Democratic action will keep Wisconsin “one of six states where the only right you have is the right to be a victim.”
The two chief culprits in preventing the CCW vote were Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala and Senate President Fred Risser, both Democrats from Madison. Chvala argued that allowing a concealed carry bill to pass would have brought an end to the state’s 130-year-old prohibition.
Zien said Democrats “will have blood on their hands” for blocking the legislation.
“We’re told that in states where they’ve passed concealed carry, murder rates drop 8% and rapes drop 7%,” Zien said. “They (Chvala and Risser) can personally feel responsible for not reducing crime.”
Zien had, according to the Wisconsin State Journal, proposed a motion that would have taken the bill out of committee for a floor vote, as had been done in late February in the Assembly, where it passed by a 58-40 margin.
The procedural block came a day after the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Consumer Affairs and Campaign Finance Reform recommended passage on a 4-to-1 vote. Committee chair Sen. Gary George (D-Milwaukee) and Bob Wirch (D-Kenosha) voted for the bill.
Also on March 11, the Milwaukee Police Association (MPA), representing 1,700 officers, endorsed the CCW bill. Gun Week has obtained a copy of the endorsement letter, signed by MPA President Bradley DeBraska, which stated in part, “The good law-abiding citizens deserve every opportunity to defend themselves against persons committing heinous crimes.”
A few days earlier, over 300 people showed up at a public hearing on the bill, held in Chippewa Falls, and the overwhelming majority of those who testified supported the legislation. Even then, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, Senate Democrats had vowed to kill the bill.
DeBraska further argued in his letter that Wisconsin police officers, who have been able to carry concealed have found “this right has been an asset, both on and off-duty.”
In the days leading up to the committee action, Zien had spearheaded a grassroots effort to pressure the Senate committee to allow a floor vote on the bill. Despite calls and e-mails from firearms owners, Chvala and Risser choreographed the spike, as Republicans Mike Ellis, Mary Panzer and Bob Welch accused Risser of “putting politics above policy,” according to the State Journal.
Zien told Gun Week that Wisconsin gunowners, many of whom have never been involved before in politics, have been galvanized by the Senate action. He said the grassroots movement is already talking about changing the balance of power in the state senate.
“They have infuriated the grassroots,” Zien stated. “Our telephones have been ringing off the hook. This is the Pearl Harbor that has awakened the sleeping giant. They (Democrats) will suffer.”
“There’s no doubt we had the votes, that’s why they did their little trick,” Zien said, adding that he had as many as 24 votes among the 33 senators. “This will be one of the biggest campaign issues in the next campaign, no doubt about it. One of the top issues for governor, district attorney, sheriff, state representative, state senator.”
Zien noted Sen. Gary George (D-Milwaukee), as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, voted to advance the bill to the Senate. But Zien said George wasn’t the only Democrat who would have voted for it had Chvala allowed a vote, according to The Journal Sentinel.