Bump Stock Ban: Recent Supreme Court Ruling Necessitates Legislative Change to Ban Bump Stocks

“Except as provided in subs. (3) and (4), no political subdivision may enact or enforce an ordinance or adopt a resolution that regulates the sale, purchase, purchase delay, transfer, ownership, use, keeping, possession, bearing, transportation, licensing, permitting, registration, or taxation of any knife or any firearm or part of a firearm, including ammunition and reloader components, unless the ordinance or resolution is the same as or similar to, and no more stringent than, a state statute.”

Wisconsin State Statutes, 66.0409(2)

In light of the recent United States Supreme Court ruling in Garland v. Cargill that bump stocks are permitted under current federal legislation as written, I strongly urge the Wisconsin State Legislature to meet in special session and pass legislation immediately that would provide for a state-level ban on these devices of death.

I would urge that they do so in advance of the Republican National Convention, which is coming to our city in less than two weeks, in order to protect the public and provide peace of mind to the attendees, residents, and area businesses alike.

I would also remind the Legislature of its erstwhile advocacy of “home rule” for municipalities around the State and urge that it respects that constitutional and statutory guarantee in this and other related instances.

By pre-empting the City’s ability to regulate guns, parts of guns, ammunition, and reloader components, the Legislature has put our City in the ridiculous position of being able to ban squirt guns from the “soft (security) zone” around the RNC…but not real guns.

With the recent Supreme Court ruling, it would also appear to limit our ability to ban bump stocks here as well.

If one can think of a better reductio ad absurdum of the Legislature’s pre-emption statute relating to firearms, I must confess that one is more creative than I am. The absurdity of having a local unit of government constrained from leveraging its more intimate knowledge of the needs and desires of its residents is palpable here, and can best be summarized in the following quotation, often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, the intellectual forefather of many of the tenets of the modern Republican Party:

“The government closest to the people serves the people best.”

]Would that this statement be put into practice in our great state rather than merely given the lip-service it is in Wisconsin these days.

In case the Legislature chooses to dither rather than to act, I have opened a file today intended to examine the legality of enacting an ordinance that would ban bump stocks in the City of Milwaukee.

In fact, I urge that with the impending Republican National Convention breathing down our necks, we do more than that: I urge that we frame and adopt an ordinance to this effect (i.e., that bans bump stocks within the City) and then let the Courts decide whether bump stocks qualify as “firearm parts” rather than after-market additions thereto and whether they qualify as “reloader components” rather than devices intended to empty the existing extended cartridge as quickly as possible.

Let them enjoin us from enforcing this ordinance, if they must. But we will not be enjoined from acting in the best interest of the residents of Milwaukee. As Chair of Public Safety and Health, I will not be enjoined from doing whatever is in my power to protect the residents of the City I serve.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.