(MADISON) – Today, Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) learned that her suspicions were correct. However, being right didn’t yield the results she would have liked. As a member of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety, Taylor repeatedly asked the same question in the public hearing, on Senate Bill 35. Was Wisconsin’s 48-hour waiting period, to receive a handgun after purchase, originally meant to be a “cooling off” period? Committee Chair, Senator Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) repeatedly drove home the belief that the two-day wait was put in place to provide time to complete background checks.
“I was always under the impression that the wait time was put in place to guard against impulsive acts of violence. When I was told that the bills drafting notes didn’t specify that intent, I let it go” said Taylor. However, Senator Janis Ringhand (D-Evansville) knew otherwise and produced copies of news articles from February 6, 1976, from the Capital Times newspaper. The headlines clearly read “Handgun Cooling-Off Bill Ok’d by State Assembly”.
“Even after learning that they based their position on incorrect assumptions, the Republicans held to their guns” Taylor said. Wanggaard, after hearing the real intent of the two-day rule, said during his time in law enforcement, it wasn't interpreted that way and that today the 48-hour rule was an inconvenience. To that, Taylor asked “When did extra precautions to save a life become an inconvenience?”
