State politicians and government officials, including Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, have shown mixed reactions to the U.S. Senate’s Wednesday vote against a bipartisan proposal that would have mandated the expansion of background checks on gun sales nationwide.
The Senate’s decision drew heavy criticism from around the country, including President Obama, who said the Senate’s decision made it “a shameful day for Washington.”
The background check expansion was also pending with several other unsuccessful pieces of legislation, including a proposal to reduce the legal size for gun magazine clips. The proposal would have mandated extensive background checks during gun transactions, specifically at trade shows or over the Internet.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., was one of the federal senators to vote against the legislation. He said in a statement he supported bipartisan legislation that would cut down on gun violence through increased regulations, but he said the legislation to increase background checks was “fatally flawed” to the point he could not support it.
Soglin criticized Johnson’s decision at a press conference Thursday, saying he was especially disappointed because Johnson’s vote came after Wisconsin dealt with two recent shootings, one at a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek and another at a Brookfield spa. Soglin said Johnson had “betrayed” the people of Wisconsin by listening to “propaganda” from the National Rifle Association.
“Senator Johnson is peddling the NRA and the firearm industries line which doesn’t take into account the balance of fairness and values in terms of the benefits that come from this legislation,” Soglin said.
He added Johnson was not the only U.S. senator that likely based their vote on messages from the NRA, which Soglin said has been “deceiving” Americans with “false information” about background checks and their consequences for the past 20 or 30 years.
Soglin said he looks forward to the November elections in 2014 and 2016, where he hopes Wisconsin citizens recognize gun control as “the single most important issue.”
“It’s not just about the guns, it’s about democracy, it’s about police chiefs, it’s about survivors, it’s about the families of the people who were killed or wounded,” Soglin said.
