Gun advocacy group to prod state lawmakers
Activists, businesses and faith organizations have joined in a new group to urge Wisconsin legislators to pass gun safety legislation and a resolution condemning “recent acts of domestic terrorism.”
The 80% Coalition has taken its name from results in a recent Marquette University Law School Poll that showed 80% of Wisconsin voters support a new law to make “private gun sales and sales at gun shows subject to background checks.”
“If folks who own guns and don’t own guns can agree on this issue we expect our Legislature should as well,” said Darryl Morin, president of Forward Latino, which is spearheading the new organization.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has said he may call a special session to deal with gun issues but he is hoping that Legislative Republican leaders will take up a bill on expanded background checks.
But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald have all but promised they won’t take up such legislation.
And even if Evers calls a special session, the legislative leaders can block any bills from being passed.
The 24-member organization
includes the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Greater Milwaukee Synod ELCA, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and Islamic Society of Milwaukee.
Anne Haines, executive director of the Milwaukee Archdiocese Urban Initiative MKE, said: “We are standing in solidarity with the groups that have signed on.”
During a news conference Thursday,
Rev. Paul Erickson, bishop of ELCA’s Greater Milwaukee Synod, said “the vast majority of gun deaths in this country are not the result of mass shootings that grab the headlines,” but that “most gun deaths are the result of suicides and individual acts of violence.”
Erickson added, “We need to strengthen our laws regarding background checks for all gun purchases and take whatever steps we can to reduce the number of guns available.”
Besides passage of legislation to strengthen background checks for gun sales, the group also will push for extreme risk protection orders often known as “red-flag laws.”
The Marquette poll showed 81% support for “allowing the police to take guns away from people who have been found by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others.”
Morin said the group will work to expand statewide through an online campaign and town hall forums. He added that the group plans an advocacy day in Madison next month.