Acknowledging the right to carry, Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, believes Republicans should have at least held discourse during the special session on gun control last Friday to give the public an opportunity to learn both sides.
“I agree that people have the right to carry, but the people also have the right to hear our debate on this difficult issue!” Taylor exclaimed.
Backed by multiple Democrat-authored bill proposals to increase protections regarding gun ownership and safety, Gov. Tony Evers called for the special legislative session to ensure the significance last month via an executive order.
In response to the session finishing without any discussion or votes, Taylor called the GOP to action.
“Come and debate a position, defend it before the people, and explain why you are willing to protect your power, but won’t protect our children and work on solutions to end gun violence,” Taylor said.
Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, justifies the decision to adjourn the session arguing he supported his district's constituents by rejecting attempts to restrict their Second Amendment rights.
“I’ve said all along that the Senate would not go along with the governor’s plans for this special session,” Fitzgerald said. “As I travel throughout southeastern Wisconsin, I regularly hear from individuals who ask me to protect their Second Amendment rights.”
He maintains he will continue to protect these rights as long as he represents District 13.
However, Evers said inaction during the special session on Nov. 7 “ignored the will of the people.”
Evers believes these bills appeal to the desires of Wisconsinites outside of southeastern Wisconsin, citing the most recent Marquette Law School Poll and claiming Republicans “refused to even do their jobs.”
“Republicans essentially just told 80 percent of Wisconsinites and a majority of gun owners, ‘go jump in a lake,’ because they didn’t have the courage to take a vote — much less have a dialogue — on two bills about universal background checks and extreme risk protection orders that we know can save lives,” Evers said in a press release.
Fitzgerald and Vos told reporters after the session they do not believe the proposed legislations go further than politics, and do not increase protections.
"I think if we could come up with a solution to the issue of gun violence or these mass shootings, then I think we — not only the Wisconsin Legislature, but every legislature — would be calling themselves into session to fix this issue," Fitzgerald said.
After the session, Taylor along with Evers, Wisconsinites and other Democratic colleagues, took a moment of silence in the Senate Chambers to pray for those lives lost by gun violence.
