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Madison - 12.14.05
At 3:10 am this morning, the state Assembly passed the Personal Protection Act shall-issue concealed carry bill by a vote of 64 to 32.
All Republican members of the Assembly voted for the bill, except for Republican Representative Mary Williams who was absent due to illness, and for the seat left vacant by Republican Representative Vrakas. That seat will soon be filled by a PPA supporter.
Democrats voting for the bill were the five who voted for the bill and the veto override last year: Representatives Barbara Gronemus, Marlin Schneider, John Steinbrink, Terry Van Akkeren, and Amy Sue Vruwink. Also joining Democrats in voting for the bill was Representative Mary Hubler of Rice Lake.
This brings us to exactly the number of votes we need for a veto override. And Representative Hubler made a public statement that, given the amendments she requested, she would vote for the bill and for a veto override.
Two Democratic representatives from solidly pro-gun districts did not vote for the bill: Representative Mike Sheridan of Janesville, and Representative Tom Nelson from the Kaukauna area.
There were several amendments added to the bill, including a provision that requires a brief "refresher" course upon the expirement of the five year permit; a provision that requires those carrying to have a blood alcohol level of less than .02%; a provision prohibiting carry by persons outside a motor vehicle less than 100 feet from a school, school playground, or property owned by a public school; and a provision that would make it a felony for any person to make a false statement on the application for a permit.
Many who receive these email alerts will be offended by the amendments that had to be accepted. Rest assured, so are the hundreds of WCCA volunteers who've worked literally thousands of hours over the past four years to get us this far.
However, in many respects this bill is less restrictive than the 2003/2004 bill. And, make no mistake, the anti-gunners tried their best. They tried to exempt the city of Milwaukee from an area where you could carry. When that failed, they tried to exempt all of Milwaukee county. They tried to exempt places where children play and alcohol is present--their so-called "Chuck E Cheese's" exemption. They tried to prohibit carry at Miller Park stadium, the State Fair Park, and the Summerfest grounds.
They tried to prohibit carry at any facility where nurses work. They tried to prohibit carry at any place that could be called a "playground." They tried to make the list of permit holders available to the public, including the news media. They tried to make it illegal for an employee of a company to even have a firearm in his vehicle if it was in the company's parking lot. They tried to prohibit carry in any place that could be called a "financial institution." They tried to make all private property off-limits to carry, unless the owner of the property posted a "guns-welcome" sign.
And it went on, and on, and on.
Those who stayed up until the wee hours to listen to the debate know that there were many, many restrictions on carry that were shot down. Representative Gunderson did an exceptional job in getting the needed votes while shunting off amendments that would have turned this bill into a worthless piece of paper.
If we didn't have one of the most anti-gun governors in the country, such amendments wouldn't even be necessary.
But, the fact is, Governor James Doyle is indeed one of the most anti-gun governors in the country. If Governor Doyle had not been able to dupe many gun owners back in 2002 into believing that he was pro-gun, we would have a clean shall-issue concealed carry law right now.
That's history. Today is today.
Consider this: Governor Doyle right now has low approval numbers, but that does not mean that he can't win re-election. If he does, his power over members of his party in the legislature will only be stronger.
Here's an even more ominous possibility: twenty legislative Republicans will be retiring from office in 2006. If the Republicans should suffer even a net three-seat loss in the state senate, the concealed carry bill will never even get a committee hearing, much less a floor vote. It would be a repeat of 2002, when Democrat Majority Leader Chuck Chvala controlled the Senate and kept the bill from being voted upon.
If the Democrats win back the Senate, it will not matter who is governor: the Personal Protection Act will never see a vote.
With those two possibilities facing us, supporters of the bill decided that we would stand a better chance of getting an amended bill passed now, rather than gamble on what happens in the elections next November.
Because of the additional amendments, the bill now heads back to the Senate where members will vote to approve the amendments. There should be no fight there, and the amended bill should pass quickly.
And then, of course, Governor Doyle will veto the bill.
In the coming weeks, it is extremely important that you write, call and email your representatives to either thank them for their vote, or to urge them to reconsider their positions and vote to override Governor Doyle's veto. If Representative Gary Sherman could change his position last year and vote to sustain Doyle's veto then, with enough pressure from constituents, a legislator who voted against the bill today can change his or her position and vote to override the veto.
The first veto override session will take place in the Senate sometime in January, and then will be followed by an Assembly veto override vote.
That gives us just weeks to convince members of the Assembly that their chances of re-election this fall lie not with the governor, but with the massive numbers of gun owners in the state.
This has been a tough fight, and we've come a long way, too far to give up now.
We've reached the number of votes to defeat Doyle. Whether or not we win is up to you.
To get the contact information for your representative, go to http://165.189.139.210/waml/ and enter your address. And, please forward this to every friend of Freedom that you know.
Thanks,
The Wisconsin Concealed Carry Association
