| EAU CLAIRE – Dana Wachs called for an overhaul of Wisconsin’s laws regarding assault rifles today following the domestic terrorist attack against children at a Florida high school.
“Like most Americans, I’ve spent the last few days going back and forth between grief and anger and terror. What we saw in Broward County, Florida Wednesday was an act of domestic terrorism against our children and our teachers. And now that more details of the shooting are coming out — that the terrorist used a legally purchased assault rifle to gun down children and teachers in their classrooms — we are forced to listen to the gutless responses of career politicians who can’t offer up anything more than their thoughts and prayers.
“We can and must do something. And it cannot wait. American children and their teachers were gunned down with an AR-15 that is designed specifically to kill humans. Real hunters don’t shoot deer with an AR-15. It’s time we do what Congress has failed to do — protect our children and ban assault weapons.
“Parents in other developed nations around the world do not have to fear that their children will be gunned down learning to read or studying multiplication tables. They don’t have to fear that by sending their child to school, a place that is supposed to be safe, that they might later have to bury their child. What will it take for Republicans and the gun lobby to wake up?
“I’m sure that career politicians will attack me for this. I’m sure they’ll say that I’m being reactionary and, frankly, I don’t give a damn. They told us to wait after the Sikh Temple Massacre in Oak Creek and the Spa Shooting in Brookfield. Where are they with solutions for those crimes now? I’ve seen nothing useful out of the Republican Party, out of Scott Walker, or Donald Trump on domestic terrorism stealing the lives and hope from our communities.
“As a lifelong hunter and as a firearm owner, I know that we can enact common-sense gun laws without infringing on the second amendment. Most gun owners I know want this reform too. It is simply a group of powerful special interest lobbyists that are fighting tooth and nail to protect their bottom line even if it means our children pay the ultimate price.”
Wachs’ plan includes:
- a ban on the sale of assault weapons, including on AR-15s,
- mandatory background checks and a 48-hour waiting period for all firearm purchases,
- closing the gun show loopholes on firearm purchases,
- a ban on bump stocks and high-capacity magazines,
- a “No Fly, No Buy” law to prohibit people listed on federal terrorism watchlists from purchasing any firearms, and
- requiring firearm dealers and sellers to securely store all firearms prior to the point of sale.
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