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from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov03/182381.asp
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov03/182381.asp
Weapons laws not matching hype
By STEVE WALTERS
[email protected]
Last Updated: Nov. 3, 2003
Madison - With the Assembly poised this week to repeal the ban on concealed weapons that passed in 1870, Wisconsin finds itself at the center of a national debate over whether such measures promote a "Wild West" mentality or allow law-abiding citizens to protect themselves
It's a fight over handguns that divides individual Wisconsin lawmakers, and it has Republicans who have already pushed the change through the state Senate facing off with Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, who has promised to veto it.
The same emotional dialogue has occurred in 45 other states - including Wisconsin's neighbors, Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa - that have concealed weapons laws.
Officials in those states have several bits of advice for their Wisconsin neighbors:
Be aware that both sides - the National Rifle Association and gun-control groups such as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence - fan public opinion to turn out their supporters and drown out their opponents.
Beware of national experts packing statistics that, they insist, prove that the numbers of murders, armed robberies and other violent crimes dropped in states that legalized the carrying of concealed weapons.
Once such laws are enacted, it is rare for a legally armed private citizen to be involved in an incident that threatens public safety.
"I have never encountered a (threatening) event that involved an individual with a gun permit," said Minnesota's Hennepin County Sheriff Pat McGowan, whose county includes about 25% of the state's population.
For now, he and other officials from neighboring states say, Wisconsin residents should take a deep breath and get past the emotional claims - claims that the Legislature is either poised to be the next pawn of the NRA, or on the verge of giving citizens the right to defend themselves, their families and their property.
"There's a lot of hype on both sides," McGowan said.
When McGowan looks at the number of Hennepin County residents who have actually applied for a concealed weapon permit since Minnesota's law was enacted five months ago, he sees that the demand will be much less than the 90,000 statewide that had been predicted for the first year.
So far, just over 2,300 applications for concealed weapon permits have been requested in Hennepin County, the sheriff said.
Likewise, Iowa has had "a relatively good experience," said Doug Marek, deputy attorney general for criminal justice. "The system that we have in Iowa seems to be working well."
Iowa allows, but does not require, the state's 99 sheriffs to issue concealed weapon permits - a so-called "may issue" provision that is law in 11 states.
If the bill making its way through the Wisconsin Legislature becomes law, Wisconsin would be the 35th state to have a "must issue" law, which would require local sheriffs to issue concealed weapon permits to those 21 and older who have completed firearms and safety training, who have never been convicted of a felony and who would otherwise qualify.
About 1% of Iowans 20 and older have concealed weapon permits, said a spokesman for the state's Department of Public Safety. Wisconsin budget analysts have estimated that 1% of Wisconsin residents 21 and older would apply to carry a concealed weapon. They predict that 37,500 residents would apply for such permits in the first year.
Based on the experiences in neighboring states, officials there say, Wisconsinites should not believe predictions of shootouts between citizens legally carrying concealed weapons and armed criminals.
"We have not seen, in Michigan, that people get out their guns and start blasting each other," said Matt Davis, of the Michigan attorney general's office. "It appears the new law is working."
Both sides in the controversy offer statistics they say prove their point. Conservative scholar John Lott, for example, has written two books concluding that violent crime has dropped significantly in the 45 states with concealed weapons laws.
But Luis Tolley, director of state legislative affairs for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said Lott's research was flawed and has been discredited.
When you look at FBI crime reports, Tolley said, "crime has fallen faster in states that don't have concealed weapons than in states that do."
Joe Olson, the Minnesota law professor who wrote that state's concealed weapons law, said applicants must pass a background check, pay hundreds of dollars for a handgun, complete some type of training or safety course, and fill out paperwork to request a concealed weapon permit. Such a person is not likely to lose his or her temper easily and start shooting, he said.
Olson said there may be some evidence that criminals with guns turn to stealing cars or other property in states that legalize concealed weapons, instead of targeting adults who may be armed.
"An armed robber just all of a sudden doesn't get a job as a roofer," Olson said. "He starts stealing cars."
Several states, including Iowa and Tennessee, require that the names of those with concealed weapon permits be public records. In Michigan, residents can obtain from each county's "gun board" the names of those who have concealed weapons permits.
Much as Minnesota does, the proposed Wisconsin law would keep secret the names of those who apply for permits, whether they are granted one or not.
Legislators pushing the Wisconsin law say that secrecy provision is necessary to prevent what happened in 1994 in Tennessee, when the Nashville Tennessean newspaper ran a list of all metropolitan Nashville residents with concealed weapon permits. A public outcry followed, but the names remain public in Tennessee.
Doyle has called "absurd" the bill's secrecy provision, which would provide a blanket exemption to the state open records law.
"Under this bill, hunting licenses would still be considered open records in Wisconsin, yet permits allowing people to carry concealed weapons into Little League games would be kept secret," Doyle said in a statement last week.
© Copyright 2003, Journal Sentinel
