On June 24 Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) signed a bill allowing off-duty law enforcement to carry concealed guns into schools and a second bill abolishing the 48-hour waiting period for firearm purchases.
On June 10 Breitbart News reported the Wisconsin legislature had passed legislation to abolish the 48-hour wait period. We noted that Walker’s spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, indicated the Governor supported the move and favored laws which “make it easier for law-abiding citizens to access firearms and difficult for criminals to obtain illegal firearms.”
The importance of ending the waiting period was made evident through tragedy a week prior in Berlin Township, New Jersey. There, Carol Bowne’s former boyfriend allegedly stabbed her to death while she was waiting on state’s permission to purchase a gun for self-defense. Although New Jersey residents are required to wait much longer than 48 hours before getting a gun, the principle is the same–time spent waiting is time in which the vulnerable become more vulnerable.
Now that Walker has abolished the waiting period, Wisconsin women who need guns for self-defense will be able to go into a gun store, pass a background check, and walk out of the store with the gun at the ready for self-defense.
According to Politico, the bill allowing off-duty law enforcement to carry guns into schools was discussed and formulated with law enforcement. It will provide an extra blanket of security for students in Wisconsin public schools and will keep would-be attackers guessing inasmuch as the new law allows the guns to be carried concealed–so criminals will not know who is or isn’t armed.
At the Nashville NRA Convention in April, Walker made clear his commitment to the Second Amendment by calling out President Obama for not protecting gun rights with the same tenacity with which he protects speech rights, property rights, or freedom of religion, among other things.
The Journal Sentinel reported Walker as saying:
Sometimes I think that the current occupant in the White House forgets that when the president is sworn in he takes an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Well, Mr. President…you don’t get to pick and choose which part of the Constitution you support.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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