http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2005/11/14/local/iq_3761357.txt
Concealed-carry has cost: Officials want to know who will pay to secure public buildings
By David Steinkraus
RACINE - To supporters, the concealed weapons bill now before the Legislature looks good, but to some municipal officials it looks like another strain on already tight budgets.
Some of those municipal officials from around Wisconsin - all from the Green Party - will hold a press conference at noon today in City Hall to talk about that strain. Their concerns focus on security for municipal buildings because the only way to stop people from bringing concealed weapons into most government buildings, according to the bill, is for those buildings to have electronic screening at all public entrances and locked storage for the weapons of people licensed for concealed-carry.
All of these officials intend to propose amendments to their municipalities' capital improvement budgets to provide for the purchase of metal detectors.
"Our budget amendments are going to be for the capital cost, because that's what we can plan for, and that's something that's nonbinding. In other words, if this bill doesn't pass, we don't have to buy the equipment. If the bill does pass, these things run $5,500 apiece," said Racine Alderman Pete Karas.
The next challenge will be the operational cost, paying people to run the machines.
Karas estimates that detectors and storage lockers for City Hall, the annex building, library, community centers and wastewater treatment plant would cost $130,000. He conservatively estimates another $600,000 to staff them.
For Madison the cost would be $996,000 to equip three of 60 buildings, according to one of the aldermen sponsoring a budget amendment there. For Hales Corners, the cost would be about $16,000.
"Given the financial restraints that every municipality in the county has, we obviously have to cut services from other areas in order to man these stations," Karas said.
"I'm very concerned about not only City Hall and the annex but our community centers. Do we want people carrying guns into the John Bryant Center?" No worries Rep. Scott Gunderson, R-Waterford, the bill's main Assembly sponsor, said the state won't be providing any money for municipal security. Nor does it have to, he said. "They just don't have any trouble. You don't have any problems with law-abiding citizens." That is borne out by the experience of the 46 states which have passed concealed-carry bills, he said.
There was the infamous 1978 case in which a former city supervisor walked into City Hall in San Francisco and assassinated the mayor and the city's first openly gay supervisor. "If someone's going to do that, it has nothing to do with the concealed-carry law," Gunderson said.
Weapons permit holders are eight to 10 times less likely than regular citizens to commit a crime with a gun, he said. He said he's been asked before if he would want people carrying concealed weapons in the Capitol. "I have no problem with law-abiding citizens, who go through training and a background check, carrying in the Capitol."
And, he said, his bill still prohibits people from carrying firearms in schools, sheriff's departments and courthouses.
Locked up Racine's own felony courtrooms, in the Law Enforcement Center, have been secured for several years behind metal detectors and an X-ray machine to examine bag, parcels, and people passing through the sole public entrance. All this security was installed following a couple of highly publicized Wisconsin courtroom shootings.
Including service contracts on the machinery, it costs the county about $110,000 annually for that security, said William Gabbey, chief deputy for the Racine County Sheriff's Department. Watching the machines is a staff comprised of retired law enforcement officers hired through a temporary employment agency, he said, providing people with good backgrounds and proven skills. The payroll for this group is $90,000 to $95,000.
There has been talk for several years about how to take the next step and secure the county courthouse, but the talk has not yet resulted in concrete plans, said Supervisor Diane Lange, chairwoman of the County Board's Public Protection and Justice System Committee. If the concealed carry bill becomes law, however, the county would be forced to deal with building security. "So I guess it would be another unfunded mandate kind of thing."
"I would see a definite step back for public safety if that was passed," she said. She acknowledges Gunderson's comments about law-abiding citizens but doesn't agree with them. "I think that ordinary people could be carrying guns, but when they get into high emotion and distraught situations, they could do foolish things."
The concealed carry bill, AB 763, was passed by a committee last week. Gunderson said the full Assembly won't be voting until it returns to session in the first weeks of December.
Concealed-carry has cost: Officials want to know who will pay to secure public buildings
By David Steinkraus
RACINE - To supporters, the concealed weapons bill now before the Legislature looks good, but to some municipal officials it looks like another strain on already tight budgets.
Some of those municipal officials from around Wisconsin - all from the Green Party - will hold a press conference at noon today in City Hall to talk about that strain. Their concerns focus on security for municipal buildings because the only way to stop people from bringing concealed weapons into most government buildings, according to the bill, is for those buildings to have electronic screening at all public entrances and locked storage for the weapons of people licensed for concealed-carry.
All of these officials intend to propose amendments to their municipalities' capital improvement budgets to provide for the purchase of metal detectors.
"Our budget amendments are going to be for the capital cost, because that's what we can plan for, and that's something that's nonbinding. In other words, if this bill doesn't pass, we don't have to buy the equipment. If the bill does pass, these things run $5,500 apiece," said Racine Alderman Pete Karas.
The next challenge will be the operational cost, paying people to run the machines.
Karas estimates that detectors and storage lockers for City Hall, the annex building, library, community centers and wastewater treatment plant would cost $130,000. He conservatively estimates another $600,000 to staff them.
For Madison the cost would be $996,000 to equip three of 60 buildings, according to one of the aldermen sponsoring a budget amendment there. For Hales Corners, the cost would be about $16,000.
"Given the financial restraints that every municipality in the county has, we obviously have to cut services from other areas in order to man these stations," Karas said.
"I'm very concerned about not only City Hall and the annex but our community centers. Do we want people carrying guns into the John Bryant Center?" No worries Rep. Scott Gunderson, R-Waterford, the bill's main Assembly sponsor, said the state won't be providing any money for municipal security. Nor does it have to, he said. "They just don't have any trouble. You don't have any problems with law-abiding citizens." That is borne out by the experience of the 46 states which have passed concealed-carry bills, he said.
There was the infamous 1978 case in which a former city supervisor walked into City Hall in San Francisco and assassinated the mayor and the city's first openly gay supervisor. "If someone's going to do that, it has nothing to do with the concealed-carry law," Gunderson said.
Weapons permit holders are eight to 10 times less likely than regular citizens to commit a crime with a gun, he said. He said he's been asked before if he would want people carrying concealed weapons in the Capitol. "I have no problem with law-abiding citizens, who go through training and a background check, carrying in the Capitol."
And, he said, his bill still prohibits people from carrying firearms in schools, sheriff's departments and courthouses.
Locked up Racine's own felony courtrooms, in the Law Enforcement Center, have been secured for several years behind metal detectors and an X-ray machine to examine bag, parcels, and people passing through the sole public entrance. All this security was installed following a couple of highly publicized Wisconsin courtroom shootings.
Including service contracts on the machinery, it costs the county about $110,000 annually for that security, said William Gabbey, chief deputy for the Racine County Sheriff's Department. Watching the machines is a staff comprised of retired law enforcement officers hired through a temporary employment agency, he said, providing people with good backgrounds and proven skills. The payroll for this group is $90,000 to $95,000.
There has been talk for several years about how to take the next step and secure the county courthouse, but the talk has not yet resulted in concrete plans, said Supervisor Diane Lange, chairwoman of the County Board's Public Protection and Justice System Committee. If the concealed carry bill becomes law, however, the county would be forced to deal with building security. "So I guess it would be another unfunded mandate kind of thing."
"I would see a definite step back for public safety if that was passed," she said. She acknowledges Gunderson's comments about law-abiding citizens but doesn't agree with them. "I think that ordinary people could be carrying guns, but when they get into high emotion and distraught situations, they could do foolish things."
The concealed carry bill, AB 763, was passed by a committee last week. Gunderson said the full Assembly won't be voting until it returns to session in the first weeks of December.
:banghead:
