New gun laws refused before shooting
In morning, Evers called for GOP to allow vote
Just hours before one of the worst mass shootings in state history, Wisconsin leaders reminded voters that deadly incidents like Wednesday’s aren’t going to spur action on firearms anytime soon.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, made clear that the state’s gun laws would not change under a Republican-controlled Legislature despite a call for a review from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
“We’re going to have that discussion about the Second Amendment forever,” Fitzgerald told reporters in Franklin, before the shooting at the Molson Coors brewery. “A lot of the provisions that are in place already, people are satisfied with.”
Police officials said five people were killed, in addition to the gunman, who has not been identified.
Fitzgerald later called the shooting “an act of evil.”
“My heart goes out to the victims and their families,” Fitzgerald said in a statement. “I’m thankful for law enforcement and emergency response personnel onscene working tirelessly.”
In November, Evers called lawmakers into special session to take up legislation to expand background checks and establish a so-called red-flag law. Within moments of opening the session, Republican leaders ended it without taking action.
Fitzgerald said at the time that any changes to current gun laws could be an erosion of constitutional rights guaranteed under the Second Amendment.
“If I did have the answer, or if any other legislator had a clear answer to this issue, we would have already implemented it,” Fitzgerald said in August.
Assembly Republicans have pushed legislation to address suicide and to expand mental health services as a solution to gun violence.
On Wednesday morning, Evers had again called on Republican lawmakers to at least take a vote on expanding background checks for firearm sales and providing judges with a greater ability to confiscate guns from anyone deemed a threat by a court.
“All I want is a discussion,” Evers said at an event in Wauwatosa. “We had (two) really common-sense solutions on the table that they wouldn’t even talk about. And that’s the frustration I have about politics these days.”
“We could lose (a vote), I understand that,” he added. “But I think our state representatives owe it to our constituents to say, ‘This is where I stand on this.’ And we can’t get to that point.”
Later, the governor underscored the effect of such violence.
“Our hearts go out to the families of those whose lives were senselessly taken, all of the folks and workers at Molson Coors, and the Milwaukee community as we grapple with yet another act of gun violence that will have long-lasting consequences for this community and our state,” he tweeted.
After the shooting, President Donald Trump at a White House news conference called the shooter a “wicked murderer” and extended condolences to the victims’ families in Milwaukee.
The Democratic candidates seeking to unseat the president said the incident showed a need for new gun restrictions, which Trump has also called for but not moved to implement.
“While details are still emerging in Milwaukee, this much is clear: We mourn another devastating tragedy,” said Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. “My heart goes out to all who lost loved ones. May we find the strength and will to act against gun violence, and never accept the unacceptable.”
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, said “we shouldn’t have to live with this constant horror and grief. We need to act now to end the gun violence epidemic.”
And U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DMinnesota, another candidate, called the shooting “yet another tragic case of gun violence. Enough.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said in a tweet that Congress has a duty to the victims of Wednesday’s shooting “to take real action” to end gun violence.
And U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, said she was praying for the victims and their families and called for action on the issue of guns.
“We must take a stand against gun violence in this country,” she wrote on Twitter. “Too many families are forced to endure unspeakable pain because of a senseless act with a gun.”
The state’s U.S. senators, Republican Ron Johnson and Democrat Tammy
Baldwin, each said their offices were standing by to help, if needed, but did not mention new laws.
“Monitoring this frightening situation at an iconic Milwaukee brewery. Prayers go out to everyone affected,” Johnson said in a tweet — the first Wisconsin lawmaker to react.
But Milwaukee state Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, a Democrat, rejected the idea of thoughts and prayers being enough from state and federal lawmakers.
“One thing continues to be absolutely clear: it is past time to take real, decisive action in order to protect our communities from the scourge of gun violence,” he said in a statement. “In times like this, thoughts and prayers are not — and never have been — enough.”
GOP U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher of Green Bay and Bryan Steil of Janesville were among the many lawmakers to react with sympathy for the victims. Gallagher said, “There’s no place for these kinds of hateful and disgusting acts in our society.”
Democratic state Rep. Evan Goyke of Milwaukee, who represents the Molson Coors campus, offered condolences to the victims and their families.
Goyke tweeted Molson Coors “is a part of our community and we are a part of theirs. My heart goes out to everyone affected during this unimaginable time.”
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said “the hearts of every Wisconsinite are heavy as we mourn those who lost their lives today in Milwaukee.”
“These are men and women who came to work every day, proud to work for a hometown company like Molson Coors,” he said.