Republicans argue to eliminate handgun wait period

MADISON — Wisconsin lawmakers should approve a Republican bill that would eliminate the state's mandatory two-day waiting period for handgun purchases out of fairness and to help keep women safe, the measure's authors told a legislative committee Wednesday.

Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, and Rep. Mary Czaja, R-Irma, told the Senate's judiciary committee that the waiting period was mandated in the 1970s when background checks amounted to digging through files by hand. Checks today can be completed much more quickly thanks to computers and Internet connectivity.

Someone who can legally own a handgun shouldn't have to wait to get it, they said. It's too inconvenient to drive to a store, buy the gun and come back two days later to pick it up, they said.

They pointed out, too, that there's no waiting period for buying long guns and the handgun delay could endanger women who need a gun immediately to protect themselves from abusers.

"I have a legal right to walk into a gun shop and buy an AR-15," Czaja said. "Why do I not have the same legal freedom to purchase that pistol or handgun?"

The judiciary committee was expected to vote on the bill Thursday. Republicans control the committee and Wanggaard serves as its chairman, making passage all but certain. Approval would clear the way for a vote in the full Senate. Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, told the National Rifle Association last month that he supports the bill.

Sen. Fred Risser, a Madison Democrat who sits on the committee, seemed stunned at the Republicans' justifications for the bill. He pointed out the bill would allow someone who gets in a fight to rush to a gun store, get a handgun and kill his or her enemy.

"Is that the way you want to run society?" Risser asked.

Czaja responded that if people pass the background check they then have the right to defend themselves. Van Wanggaard added people don't have to wait two days to purchase other items that could be used as deadly weapons, such as baseball bats, steak knives and cars.

"If they can lawfully possess a firearm, they should be able to walk right out the door with it," he said.

Brian O'Keefe, the state Justice Department's Administrator of Law Enforcement Services, told the committee his agency ran 3,000 background checks for gun purchases last week and 100,000 in 2014. He said the checks take an average of four hours, although about 11 percent of purchasers with pristine records can clear the check almost instantly.

The National Rifle Association has registered in favor of the bill. So has Wisconsin Firearm Owners, Ranges, Clubs & Educators, Inc., the state bear hunters association and the Milwaukee police union. End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort have registered against it.