Wisconsin Democrats are reintroducing gun regulations after Republicans stripped those measures from the state budget.
Sponsors say they hope to prevent gun violence, which typically spikes during the summer months. The proposals now circulating for cosponsors include expanded background check requirements, a mandatory waiting period for handgun purchases and a red flag law designed to remove weapons from people deemed to be high risk.
The bills mirror measures included by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in his latest budget request — before GOP lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Finance removed them.
Now, Democratic lawmakers are reintroducing the measures as standalone legislation.
Although the Republican-controlled Legislature has repeatedly blocked similar bills in years past, state Sen. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, said she’s urging her GOP colleagues to advance at least some of the bills in the package to public hearings this session.
“Year after year, I’ve watched Republicans cut every single gun safety proposal from the state budget. And year after year, we see more victims and families burying their babies,” Johnson said, while flanked by gun safety advocates and Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul at a news conference on Tuesday.
But in a written statement, Wisconsin’s top Republican lawmaker was critical of the proposals.
“People should be concerned about those who don’t want to lock up criminals committing serious crimes,” said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester. “Passing more restrictions on law-abiding gun owners is typical overreach by the Democrats that doesn’t solve the problem.”
One of the proposals would reinstate a 48-hour waiting period before someone could buy a handgun from a federally-licensed firearms dealer.
That waiting period had been on the books in Wisconsin for decades — until former Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, signed a law repealing it in 2015.
State Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, said in addition to preventing homicides that result from impulsive decisions, a waiting period would help stop suicides. Suicides make up a majority of firearm-related deaths in Wisconsin and across the country.
“Every suicide is preventable, and adding a waiting period … puts a barrier between somebody making an irrational decision and an irreversible harm,” Larson said.
Larson was a friend and colleague of Jonathon Brostoff, a former Democratic state representative who died by suicide using a firearm last year.
Another bill circulating this week would allow family members, household members and law enforcement agencies to petition a court for what’s known as an “extreme risk protection order,” against someone who’s deemed to be “substantially likely” to harm themselves or another person. If the order’s granted, that person would have to surrender their firearms.
Those laws, often referred to as red flag laws, are in effect in 21 states.
That includes California, where a judge recently ordered a man to surrender his guns after law enforcement said he was messaging about mass attacks with a 15-year-old student from Wisconsin. That student used her father’s legally purchased handgun to kill two other people and herself at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison in December, prosecutors say.
Also included in the package is a proposal to ban manufacturing, transporting, selling, possessing and carrying what are known as “ghost guns,” which are guns that can be assembled at home from parts purchased online. Those guns often lack serial numbers, making it difficult for law enforcement to trace them. And they’re often made from polymers that aren’t picked up by metal detectors.
Additionally, one of the re-introduced bills would expand background check requirements to more types of gun sales. Currently, background checks are required for anyone who buys a gun from a federally licensed firearms dealer.
But Wisconsin Democrats say background checks should also be mandatory for private party transactions, including guns bought at gun shows, flea markets or from pick-ups scheduled in response to classified ads. That bill includes some exceptions to background check requirements, including weapons classified as antiques or guns given as gifts or bequests by a family member.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, call the suicide prevention lifeline at 988 or text “Hopeline” to 741741.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2025, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.
