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The Daily Cardinal Est. 1892
Friday, March 29, 2024
The Associated Students of Madison hosted a town hall with representatives from city, state and student governments along with campus law enforcement Wednesday to address student safety concerns.

The Associated Students of Madison hosted a town hall with representatives from city, state and student governments along with campus law enforcement Wednesday to address student safety concerns.

ASM Town Hall addresses student safety concerns, Wisconsin gun laws

Students, law enforcement and state representatives met for an Associated Students of Madison town hall Wednesday to discuss safety measures on campus and throughout Madison.

Following the Parkland shooting, demands for improved gun control legislation and discussions of concealed carry have spread throughout the U.S., with the UW-Madison campus being no exception.

The prospect of arming staff on campus was quickly shut down by Kristen Roman, chief of the UW-Madison Police Department.

“From my experience, at 28 years in this profession, I have the perspective of both the city and higher-ed arena, and I will tell you that in my experience, and opinion, and belief, more guns are not the solution,” Roman said. “I would not, at all, be for the notion of arming our educators with guns.”

Mike Koval, Chief of the Madison Police Department, shared similar sentiments.

“We, also, do not feel that that’s a good idea for a lot of public policy reasons and safety reasons. There are the tactical reasons as well as the public policy rationale behind not introducing yet more guns into volatile situation like that,” Koval said.

Last year, the Wisconsin State Supreme Court approved a measure allowing concealed carry for public bus transportation passengers.

“If more guns made us safer, we’d be the safest country in the world. And, instead, we’re the most deadly industrialized nation,” said state Representative Chris Taylor, D-Madison.

Taylor emphasized the need for mandatory background checks, calling the policy a “no-brainer.” She recently introduced a bill implementing a maximum amount of magazine rounds an individual can have at one time.

“Even Justice Scalia recognized that the Second Amendment is not absolute,” Taylor said. “And we treat it somehow that it is. And it’s not.”

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