UW-Madison students may someday be able to conceal and carry weapons on campus if a bill, to be released Thursday, is passed. It would allow residents of Wisconsin to conceal and carry guns, but it has not been confirmed whether this would include educational institutions or not.
The drafters of the bill are Rep. Scott Gunderson, R-Waterford, and Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire. In 2003, the two released a similar conceal and carry bill; however it was vetoed by Gov. Doyle and fell one vote short of being overridden in the Assembly.
As the law stands, according the UW-Madison Police Department, nobody is allowed to carry a firearm or any other dangerous weapon in any university building or on campus. Sgt. Jerome VanNatta said he thinks if the bill were passed, UWPD \would address that even though you might be allowed to carry [weapons] everywhere else, you still would not be able to carry on university property.""
VanNatta's main concern he said, is that ""this university is an open-access campus. Potentially, people could legally be carrying guns coming and going from campus.""
At Carleton College in Minnesota, where there is a conceal and carry law, college officials state they will exercise their right to prohibit firearms on campus, including at all public events. If anyone on campus is found with a weapon, they will be asked to leave.
According to state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, due to the fact that 2003's bill was ""unworkable,"" it is unclear whether students are or are not included. ""The last bill was a bad bill,"" Risser said. ""Last time, they talked about giving personal licenses for five years. Someone could be sane at the time they got the license and change their attitudes within that five-year period.""
Those in support of the bill turn to numbers. According to FBI statistics, right-to-carry states have a 24 percent lower average violent crime rate, a 22 percent lower murder rate and 37 percent fewer robberies.
For thirty years, Michigan had a higher violent crime rate than Ohio. Michigan passed a conceal and carry law, and for the first time in thirty years, Ohio had a higher crime rate. ""The only thing that changed was the passage on a conceal and carry law,"" Mike Bruen, Gunderson's research assistant, said. ""We need to give residents the opportunity to protect themselves.""
Although Zien's chief of staff John Hogan, knows Doyle will veto the bill, the drafters hope to have a good enough bill that can sustain a veto override. Risser hasn't ""the slightest idea"" [what the new bill contains].
""I voted against it last time and I'd probably vote against it again,"" he said.
