Rage Follows Override Failure in Wisconsin
by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Gun rights activists in Wisconsin will target two Democrat state lawmakers for defeat this Fall, and work feverishly to throw anti-gun Democrat Gov. Jim Doyle out of office after an attempt to override Doyle’s second veto of concealed carry legislation failed by two Assembly votes.
Branded as turncoats are Reps. Terry Van Akkeren of Sheboygan and John Steinbrink of Pleasant Prairie. Both had voted for the legislation to become law, but when faced with overriding Doyle’s veto, they reversed position. It was the same maneuver that Rep. Gary Sherman had done two years ago when Doyle nixed an earlier concealed carry bill, and he survived a nasty re-election campaign afterward.
This time around, things may be different. It all depends upon whether Badger State gunowners can turn their outrage into political activism and voting strength in November.
Gun right activists burned up the Internet chat lists following the 64-34 vote that was largely along party lines. Only four Democrats voted for the override: Reps. Barbara Bronemus of Whitehall; Mary Hubler from Rice Lake; Marlin Schneider of Wisconsin Rapids, and Amy Sue Vruwink from Milladore. All other Democrats sided with the governor, a fact that was not lost on Alan Gottlieb and Joe Waldron with the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA).
Immediately following the vote, Gottlieb and Waldron issued a blistering statement denouncing Democrats as “all talk and no walk” on the issue of gun rights and the personal safety of their constituents.
“For all their lip service about supporting the gun rights of Wisconsin citizens,” said Waldron, CCRKBA executive director, “this vote once again demonstrates that Democrats cannot be trusted. When Democrats hit the campaign trail this Fall, gunowners will be reminded that their rhetoric is empty, and that when they had the chance to do the right thing, they failed.”
He said Doyle handed criminals a victory with his veto by assuring them “a risk-free working environment.”
Gottlieb, the group’s chairman, called Democrats “the party of victim disarmament.” He said the Wisconsin vote proves once again that Democrats, not just in Wisconsin but nationwide, largely do not support citizens’ gun rights, despite what they may profess on the campaign trail.
But Gottlieb saved his hardest punches for Steinbrink, Van Akkeren and the governor.
“We want these two lawmakers, and Gov. Doyle, to know that every time a woman is raped by a stalker or assaulted or murdered by an ex-boyfriend, their blood will be on your hands,” Gottlieb stated. “Every time a shopkeeper is robbed, every time a motorist is the victim of a carjacking, every time a law-abiding citizen is victimized when he or she would have been able to fight back, that crime is as much your responsibility as that of the perpetrator, because you let it happen.”
Gun Week contacted Van Akkeren’s office for a response, but none was provided by press time. There was no answer at Steinbrink’s office.
Visitors to KeepAndBearArms.com (KABA), the nation’s most active gun rights forum, were unabashed in their anger toward Doyle and Wisconsin Democrats. Reaction ran from hot to volcanic.
One correspondent wrote, “Time to unleash the 4 million NRA members and millions of other gunowners and ensure that the governor of Wisconsin and the two spineless turncoats are introduced to the unemployment line after the next election.”
Another suggested, “Perhaps it’s time for a few hundred-thousand law-abiding Wisconsin citizens to open-carry on a daily basis and watch the inevitable, hysterical reaction and calls for concealed carry.”
A third KABA visitor noted, “Lip service is cheap . . . as was just learned by the results of the override attempt. Action is what counts.”
And a fourth quickly added, “Indeed, talk is cheap. Action is what counts, and the only kind of action politicians will pay any attention (to) is your recall signature and/or your vote. Vote them out!”
Another writer lamented, “Well, there you have it. No respect for the law-abiding citizen. . . . Come election time, identify those against you and vote them out.”
Steinbrink issued a statement after the vote suggesting that he switched his position on concealed carry out of concern that passage of the law would have been a “foot in the door” for adoption of less restrictive amendments sometime in the future. Indeed, that has been the pattern in many other states where concealed carry laws have been adopted.
After one or two years, lawmakers and law enforcement officials have “discovered” that these laws do not result in violent traffic altercations or tavern shoot-outs, gun rights activists note, so they wind up supporting the law and back amendments that ease restrictions on licensed citizens.
According to The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Van Akkeren “quickly retreated into his office after the vote.” He later reportedly said he had spoken with law enforcement leaders in his district and decided he could not support this version of concealed carry legislation, even though he professes to support concealed carry as a principle.
But that won’t wash with angry gunowners or Gottlieb, who indicated that come this Fall’s elections, the CCRKBA, an organization that specializes in grassroots gun rights, will remind Wisconsin voters about this issue.
The issue may be heating up long before that, however. The National Rifle Association’s annual convention is scheduled for Milwaukee May 19-21 and the state will attract tens of thousands of hard-core gun rights activists who may lay the groundwork for a political season that is just over the horizon.
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