Open Letter about Wisconsin Concealed Carry Legislation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 16, 2011
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE WISCONSIN STATE SENATE ON CONCEALED CARRY
Esteemed Members of the Wisconsin State Senate:
Tuesday, the Wisconsin 9/12 Project and Un-infringed Liberty were, together, pleased to see you moving the State of Wisconsin in the right direction on the matter of 2nd Amendment rights. We were in the gallery to watch you pass concealed carry in your chamber, and we gladly celebrate it as a partial victory. While we are disappointed that Wisconsin will now almost certainly the the 49th state to pass a “shall-issue” law rather than the fifth state to pass constitutional carry, we recognize yesterday’s vote as progress and thank you for your efforts in making it more possible for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves from harm. On our end, we will continue to work so that in the not-so-distant future we can complete the full restoration of this constitutional right to Wisconsinites.
We’ve experienced some tremendous bright spots in the last several weeks as we’ve pushed toward expanding carry laws in this state, particularly in the Senate. We’d like to offer some sincere thanks.
First and foremost, we strongly commend Senator Pam Galloway for her unflagging courage and principle in striving to provide a bill that would fully have honored the plain language of the U.S. and Wisconsin Constitutions. She has our sincere gratitude and admiration.
We offer additional accolades to Senators Rich Zipperer and Neal Kedzie, who as Senator Galloway’s fellow members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, ensured an honest hearing on SB 93. They considered with openness testimony offered by informed Wisconsinites, used that information to make constitutionally sound improvements to the bill, and served as its staunch fellow advocates.
The rest of the 10 senators who had signed onto the bill have our appreciation, along with two additional senators whom we had identified as being fully willing to vote for it. We relish knowing that we had already gathered 12 of the 17 votes needed to pass the bill in constitutional form.
Finally, our gratitude goes to three senators who spoke on the floor of the senate yesterday in the course of debate on the bill and potential amendments. Senator Glenn Grothman astutely recognized the inconsistency and gross double standard of restricting the ability to carry in the State Capitol Building. We also deeply appreciate the words of Senator Frank Lasee, who straightforwardly countered a number of untruths. Additionally, Senator Lasee plainly recognized that this bill was already a constitutional concession and that the rights of the people should not be compromised any further in amending the bill. Last but not least, we salute Senator Dan Kapanke for graciously acknowledging the role of groups like ours in advancing concealed carry in Wisconsin.
We are proud that we have assisted in raising the profile of this issue to an unprecedented degree. We look forward to seeing a companion bill to SB 93 passed in the Assembly in the very near future.
How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual…as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded, controlled, supervised, and taken care of.
– Representative Suzanna Gratia Hupp, TX
Most sincerely,
Kirsten Lombard, on behalf of the statewide members of the Wisconsin 9/12 Project
Annette Olson, on behalf of the statewide members of Un-infringed Liberty