Most School Shooters Get Their Guns at Home

State Representative Terese Berceau (D – Madison), issued the following statement regarding Republicans’ rejection of her legislation to encourage safe and responsible storage of firearms:

“Last week brought another school shooting, this time in Santa Fe, Texas. Yet again, the young, male killer used guns obtained from his own home, owned by members of his family. This was also true of Parkland and Newtown and most other deadly school shootings, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal last month.

“Earlier this year, Republicans refused to do one small thing to address this situation.  A measure I authored, Assembly Bill 149, would have exempted purchases of locking guns safes from Wisconsin’s five percent sales tax. It was a small measure to encourage responsible gun ownership, but it fell victim to the petty politics that has characterized this body for far too long.

“Republicans were angry because we forced them to vote on debating another proposal of mine, AB 65, which requires background checks for all firearm purchases. This policy is favored by more than 80% of Wisconsinites but the Republicans wouldn’t even give it a hearing.  Consequently, they took my gun safe bill off the Assembly calendar as “punishment.”

“As we know, members of the Republican Party are totally subservient to gun manufacturers and the NRA at the expense of the safety of people in all of our districts. As a result, they are pathologically unwilling to address the gun violence issue. I think it’s fair to ask who they are really punishing when they block common-sense gun safety measures – Democratic politicians, or the children and adults slaughtered in mass shootings and killed in gun accidents when people get their hands on weapons that aren’t properly stored in homes.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.