NewsState

Actions

Evers demands GOP leaders vote on gun bills

Posted at 12:13 PM, Nov 07, 2019
and last updated 2019-11-07 13:13:34-05

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Latest on the Wisconsin Legislature’s special session on gun control (all times local):

11:45 a.m.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is demanding Republican legislators vote on a pair of bills restricting firearm ownership.

Evers in October ordered a special legislative session on gun control to begin Tuesday afternoon. He wants to them to vote on bills mandating universal background checks and allowing family members or police to ask judges to temporarily seize firearms from people who pose a threat.

Republican leaders say they won’t even consider the bills. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says he plans to gavel in and gavel out seconds later, ending the session.

Evers sent Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos a letter Thursday morning blasting them for “ignoring the will of the people” and demanding they vote on the proposals. He says Wisconsin residents deserve to know where their legislators stand on the bills.

___

11:35 a.m.

Gun-control advocates are imploring Wisconsin Republicans to pass a pair of bills restricting firearm ownership during a legislative special session.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in October ordered a special session to begin Thursday afternoon on bills mandating universal background checks and allowing judges to temporarily seize guns from people who pose a threat.

Republicans have said they won’t so much as debate the bills. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has said his chamber plans to gavel in and immediately gavel out, ending the session in that house.

A group of gun control advocates held a news conference Thursday morning in the state Capitol. They called the bills moderate, common-sense proposals that most Wisconsin residents support.

Karly Scholz, a 16-year-old junior at Madison West High School, is the Wisconsin state director for March for Our Lives, an anti-gun group that formed in the wake of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. She said she and her fellow students go to school every day fearing for their lives. She said Republicans’ refusal to take up the bills equates to the GOP saying students’ lives don’t matter.

___

5:55 a.m.

Gun control advocates are set to rally in Madison ahead of a special legislative session on gun restrictions that’s expected to go nowhere.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers last month ordered a special session to take up bills mandating universal background checks and allowing judges to temporarily seize guns from people who pose a threat.

Groups including Moms Demand Action, Doctors for America and the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee will hold news conferences and rally at the state Capitol ahead of the session.

Republicans have said they will gavel in and immediately gavel out, ending the session as soon as it begins.