Tennesseans and Wisconsinites involved with the Builders' project. Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner.

Madison School Board member Ali Muldrow said people who work in education know that the “worst day” is when children get hurt in school. 

“When the Abundant Life shooting happened, which was at a private Christian School very close to my home, it was just a really horrible day, and I think I realized it’s too late to talk about this,” Muldrow said. “It’s been too late and we can’t keep letting it be too late.”

A teacher and student were killed and six others were injured by a 15-year-old who brought a gun to Abundant Life Christian School, a private school in Madison, in December 2024. It is the deadliest school shooting on record in Wisconsin.

The shooting made national headlines, but it is just one example of children harmed by gun violence. According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, there were 332 school shootings in 2024. A 2024 report by Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions found firearms continue to be a leading cause of death for children and teens, and those who are Black are disproportionately the victims

Muldrow, who is running unopposed for another term on the Board this spring, said measures taken to try to prevent shooting deaths at school have not been enough. 

“All of the things that we’ve done to our students haven’t resolved this issue — whether it’s practicing and having drills or whether it’s making our schools harder places to get into,” Muldrow said. “None of that changes the reality that a 15-year-old went into their school, two guns, and killed multiple people, including themselves.”

Students from Madison Metropolitan School District walked out of class in December and marched to the state Capitol to demand something be done about gun violence. 

“They asked for two things,” Muldrow said. “They asked for laws related to gun storage and gun safety, and they asked for more mental health support within their education.”  

Muldrow said that adults should “honor” the demands of the students and build bridges across political divides to get the work done. She said having conversations is an important starting point. 

In the aftermath of the Madison school shooting, Muldrow said she wanted to organize an event to inspire people in the community to feel capable of making change. She turned to a group that tried to find solutions after a school shooting took place about two years ago and more than 620 miles away.

Tennesseans were left reeling in 2023 after a shooter killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at the private Christian Covenant elementary school. A nonprofit organization called Builders (formerly known as Starts With Us) that seeks to ease political polarization brought together a group of 11 Tennessee residents with a range of opinions on the issue of guns to discuss and come up with some solutions. 

Muldrow was part of a similar group in Wisconsin in 2024 that explored the debate on abortion. She saw a documentary about the Tennessee group and thought its approach could be a way for the community affected by the Abundant Life shooting to come together and find a way forward. 

Muldrow said that the point of the event she helped organize Sunday was not necessarily to “mirror or mimic what happened in Tennessee, but to learn from that collaborative attitude towards solutions.” 

More than 100 people attended the event at the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, which included a screening of the documentary about the Tennesseeans’ journey and a panel discussion with two of the participants and a handful of Wisconsinites.

Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll noted during the panel that potential solutions to gun violence would look different for Wisconsin, given the difference in state laws and the general beliefs of residents in each state. A key point of disagreement among participants in the documentary centered on concealed carry permits and whether they should be mandated. Tennessee has allowed for permitless carry of handguns since 2021.

Wisconsin already requires a permit for concealed carry, however, and it’s mostly not a partisan debate, Franklin said. According to the most recent polling, about 65% of Wisconsinites support concealed carry, but only under certain circumstances. 

“We do have a concealed carry law that requires a permit. When the Legislature has considered concealed carry without a permit, we found only about 20% support for that, about 80% opposition,” Franklin said. “There is a distinction that the public makes… public opinion is quite opposed to that form of concealed carry, but solidly in favor of [concealed carry] with a permit.”

Franklin said he thought proposals that originate from and garner support among Second Amendment supporters should be celebrated. He noted that there is a Republican bill that’s been introduced in Wisconsin that would create a tax exemption for gun safes. 

“That’s a small, incremental matter of, what, 5 ½% on the cost of the safe, but on the other hand, when you think of children’s access to guns in the home, access to those guns by burglars or other circumstances,” it could be a significant step, Franklin said. 

Franklin said the idea that “if you don’t get everything you’ve got nothing” is a huge barrier to progress. 

“I would just stress that incremental improvements are still improvements,” Franklin said.

Steve D’Orazio, founder and president of the Oregon, Wis., gun shop and range Max Creek Outdoors said during the panel that his business works hard to educate people who acquire guns. He said he has been working with a doctor at the UW Health System to educate doctors on guns and have them talk with their patients about gun safety and awareness, including keeping guns locked away. 

“My goal is the safety of our children,” D’Orazio said. 

The solution to school shootings he emphasized the most was implementing metal detectors in all schools. 

“Every one of us here today walked through the front door of this building and we walked through a metal detector, but our schools don’t have metal detectors,” D’Orazio said. “I sell guns. That’s our business. There’s so much education that we do at our shop to make sure that the gun owner doesn’t get hurt and that they use it correctly…, but every school district should have a metal detector. That’s how you’re going to stop this stuff.” 

The documentary shows the Tennessee group taking and presenting their recommendations at the Tennessee State Capitol. Those recommendations included temporary removal of firearms based on risk of violence, developing tools to support responsible gun ownership, expanding the role of school resource officers, investing in community to reduce trauma and developing gun literacy resources for schools, communities and media. 

Tennessee leaders did pass a bill in 2024 requiring education in schools about guns, a policy similar to the recommendation of the group. Though the end result was not exactly as participants imagined it. 

Adam Luke, a Tennessee marriage and family counselor and conservative, spoke to how the “rush to be right” by lawmakers on the issue may diminish the effectiveness of the legislation.  

“People will not be able to opt out [of the curriculum]. Now, I would like to turn to conservative America and say, ‘If you did not have the ability to opt your child out of sex education would that bother you?’” Luke asked. “This is what happens when you have super majorities.” 

Luke said that the Tennessee Department of Education also doesn’t have the curriculum for teachers and just recently closed the public response period. He said lawmakers were so quick to want to get something done that they’ve created a policy that may not be effective.

“Let’s say that we did something, but guess what? We forgot to actually give you the resources to be successful with it,” Luke said. 

Political polarization was on display following the Madison school shooting. Muldrow said she has been “saddened” by the divide.

“It’s really hard to see our Legislature be so divided and in such a contentious relationship with our governor, and it’s a shame because all of these people represent us and there is an expectation that they work together,” Muldrow said. 

Since the shooting, Gov. Tony Evers has launched the Office of Violence Prevention and has proposed adopting further gun safety policies including stricter background checks and red flag laws. Republican lawmakers were quick to criticize Evers’ proposals and have been developing their own proposals for addressing school shootings, including financial support for the Office of School Safety and allowing teachers to be armed. 

The Madison Common Council and the Dane County Board of Supervisors both passed resolutions urging the Legislature to take action and implement common-sense gun measures. 

Steven Olikara, a former candidate for Wisconsin Senate and founder of the nonpartisan organization the Future Caucus, said the actions of local leaders and Evers are a step forward, but the state needs to take bigger steps. 

“Those bigger steps will come from bringing Democrats and Republicans together in a real way and building trust,” Olikara said. “And I think conversations like this can help create that kind of momentum. [When people are at] each other’s throats, the kind of progress you make is very small and very incremental. When you have conversations like the one today, you can reach transformative change, and that’s really what we need.”

Tennessee educator Alyssa Pearman, who lost one of her students to gun violence, said the key is to keep showing up to have the conversations.

“You are going to be told no, and you are going to have people who have no interest in making a change and being a builder, but you keep showing up,” Pearman said. “You find people who want to do something, who want a better tomorrow, and you have conversations like these… This is the type of conversation that needs to be had, whether it’s in Wisconsin, whether it’s in Tennessee and whatever state where we have this crisis.”

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The U.S. Supreme Court, as seen on Oct. 9, 2024. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

This report was updated at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday overwhelmingly upheld a Biden-era regulation governing kits that can be assembled into untraceable firearms, also known as ghost guns.

In the 7-2 decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch, the author of the opinion, said that the regulation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is “not inconsistent” with the Gun Control Act of 1968. The rule was written during the administration of former President Joe Biden.

In his opinion, Gorsuch said that the Gun Control Act allows the ATF to regulate “any weapon . . . which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive.”

“Neither the rule of lenity nor constitutional avoidance applies where, as here, the statute’s text, context, and structure make clear it reaches some weapon parts kits and unfinished frames or receivers,” he continued.

Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas wrote a dissent.

The case, Bondi v. VanDerStok, renamed to reflect Trump administration Attorney General Pam Bondi, raised the question before the high court as to whether a 2022 rule issued by ATF overstepped in expanding the definition of “firearms” to include “ghost guns” under a federal firearms law.

Wednesday’s ruling falls out of line with recent gun-related cases before the conservative-led Supreme Court that struck down a ban on bump stocks and struck down a New York law that banned concealed carry.

The nine justices initially heard oral arguments back in October.

Ghost guns are firearms without serial numbers. The kits can easily be bought online and quickly assembled in parts.

Law enforcement officials use serial numbers to track guns that are used in crimes and have raised concerns about how ghost guns can impede investigations involving firearms.

The regulation that was challenged by gun advocacy groups did not ban ghost guns, but instead required manufacturers of those firearm kits or parts to add a serial number to the products, as well as conduct background checks on potential buyers.

The ATF rule also clarified those kits are considered covered by the 1968 Gun Control Act under the definition of a “firearm.”

‘Buy Build Shoot’ kits

Gorsuch noted in his opinion that the statute in the Gun Control Act gives the ATF the authority to regulate any weapon designed to “expel a projectile by the action of an explosive” through two requirements.

The first is that there needs to be a “weapon.” The second is that “weapon” has to meet one of three criteria.

“It must be able to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive, designed to do so, or susceptible of ready conversion to operate that way,” he said.

The appeals court interpreted the ATF regulation as invalid because “no weapon parts kit” can meet those two requirements. Gorsuch said the high court did not agree.

“We disagree because, to our eyes, at least some kits will satisfy both,” he said.

In the Supreme Court’s reasoning, Gorsuch pointed to an example of a ghost gun kit – a Polymer80’s “Buy Build Shoot” kit.

He noted the kit came with all the tools needed to build a “Glock-variant semiautomatic pistol.”

“And it is so easy to assemble that, in an ATF test, an individual who had never before encountered the kit was able to produce a gun from it in 21 minutes using only ‘common’ tools and instructions found in publicly available YouTube videos,” Gorsuch said.

He said when assessing if the “Buy Build Shoot” kit applies to the two requirements, he first questioned if the word “weapon” could apply to a kit.

“Reflecting as much, everyday speakers sometimes use artifact nouns to refer to unfinished objects—at least when their intended function is clear,” he wrote. “A friend might speak of the table he just bought at IKEA, even though hours of assembly remain ahead of him.”

Gorsuch said the same logic can apply to the kit.

“But even as sold, the kit comes with all necessary components, and its intended function as instrument of combat is obvious,” he said. “Really, the kit’s name says it all: “Buy Build Shoot.”

As for the second requirement, Gorsuch noted the kit met it because “a person without any specialized knowledge can convert a starter gun into a working firearm using everyday tools in less than an hour.”

Thomas dissent

Justice Thomas argued that firearm kits do not meet “the statutory definition of ‘firearm.’”

Thomas also wrote the opinion on a 2022 decision that greatly expanded the Second Amendment by determining the New York concealed carry law violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

“The majority instead blesses the Government’s overreach based on a series of errors regarding both the standard of review and the interpretation of the statute,” he wrote in his dissent Wednesday. “Congress could have authorized ATF to regulate any part of a firearm or any object readily convertible into one. But, it did not.”

He argued that the ATF regulation rewrites what a “frame” and “receiver” is on a weapon. Thomas wrote that ghost guns do not meet this definition because they are “unfinished.”

Thomas also pushed back against the majority opinion on how easy it is to assemble a firearm through a kit.

“Special tools and an indeterminate amount of time are required to convert an unfinished weapon-parts kit into a functional weapon,” he said. “Thus, even assuming that the ordinary meaning of ‘weapon’ does not resolve whether the term includes weapon-parts kits, at minimum the term ‘weapon’ cannot encompass weapon-parts kits in ‘the same way’ it covers disassembled firearms.”

The late Jonathan Brostoff, photographed during his time as a state representative in the Wisconsin Assembly. The Assembly and state Senate approved a resolution in Brostoff's memory March 18, 2025. (Photo by Greg Anderson)

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

On a day of contentious legislative debates and an annual ceremonial custom to recognize Wisconsin’s tribal communities, members of the Wisconsin Legislature united to remember a former colleague this week.

More than one lawmaker made clear it was an event they fervently wished would not have been necessary.

Former State Rep. Jonathan Brostoff took his own life on Nov. 4, 2024, with a gun he had purchased just an hour earlier. He was 41 years old. Brostoff served in the Assembly for eight years, leaving in 2022 after he was elected to the Milwaukee Common Council. 

Tuesday, the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate each voted unanimously to pass a resolution in Brostoff’s memory. The votes were cast in each chamber in a two-part secular memorial service of sorts, with heartfelt eulogies from Brostoff’s former colleagues. Many wore green ribbons in recognition of mental health awareness.

“Jonathan was well known for his honesty,” said Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer. “He never held back if he thought we were heading in the wrong direction or missing something important — often crossing his eyes and staring you down. With Jonathan, you always knew where you stood, and he helped us grow as a caucus and as individual legislators.”

Sign language bill

One story was told repeatedly: Brostoff’s campaign to pass a bill that would tighten state standards for American Sign Language interpreters. The legislation established a tiered licensing system to ensure that people interpreting between doctors and patients or lawyers and clients had a higher level of skill, Brostoff said at the time.

Frustrated when the legislation stalled, he vowed not to cut his hair until it was signed into law. In an April 2019 Wisconsin Public Television interview, Brostoff — who normally favored a close-cropped cut — sported a curly afro that surrounded his face.

It wasn’t a protest, exactly, he told interviewer Frederica Freyberg. “Especially for the deaf community, it’s a visual indicator saying I’m with you and we’re not going to stop until we get this done,” Brostoff said.

“I would send him pictures of Richard Simmons,” Rep. Lisa Subeck said on the Assembly floor Tuesday. “He sent me back pictures of Bob Ross.”

Gov. Tony Evers signed the bill in July 2019. Sen. Dianne Hesselbein was a member of the Assembly at the time. In the Senate Tuesday, she recalled Brostoff’s Assembly floor speech on the day the measure finally passed.

“He signed the entire thing, and it was long, and he could do sign language of the entire thing without looking at notes,” Hesselbein said. “He knew what he wanted to say, and he was careful, and there was silence, absolute silence and respect.”

Colleagues described the diminutive Brostoff as intense, funny, passionate about causes and smitten with his four children.

In the Assembly, Rep. Jodi Emerson recalled hearing Brostoff break into the “Itsy bitsy spider” song while changing a diaper in the midst of one of their phone calls discussing their work in the Capitol.

Those phone calls were a regular feature of her drives home to Eau Claire from Madison at the end of a busy week in the Capitol. She said she spoke before Tuesday’s session with Brostoff’s father about those calls.

“I was thinking about that last week, and really wish I would have been able to talk to Jonathan last week,” Emerson said. “I had my own version of a conversation with him,” she added wistfully, “but the reception wasn’t clear from wherever he was.”

Passion and compassion

Brostoff was first elected to the Assembly in 2014. Rep. Christine Sinicki related a memory from Brostoff’s campaign that year. She had not endorsed him in the four-way Democratic primary, and at a neighborhood parade both attended that summer, a Brostoff volunteer sidled up to her and made a “snide remark,” she said.

“I went over to Jonathan and I said, ‘I really did not appreciate that.’ The next day, that volunteer was at my door, apologizing,” Sinicki recalled. “That was the kind of man that Jonathan was. He had so much integrity.”

Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde, who met Brostoff when both were at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, nicknamed him “JoBro.” But Brostoff had his own self-applied nickname: Honey Badger, after a viral YouTube video and internet meme — “Honey Badger Don’t Care.”

“He’s getting into like, messing with bees and snakes and all types of things, because Honey Badger don’t care and he’s gonna do what he wants to do anyway. That’s Jonathan Brostoff,” Omokunde said.

Brostoff was passionate about the causes he adopted, his colleagues agreed.

Omokunde referred to a comment moments earlier, when Subeck “called him tenacious.” He paused. “However, let’s be honest,” he continued. “Jonathan was annoying … and everybody in this body who ever came across him knows he was annoying.”

Affectionate laughter greeted his candor.

“Sometimes he could make me crazy,” Sinicki said. “That’s only because he had such passion and such conviction for the things that he wanted that nothing was going to change his mind, nothing at all.”

For all his fervor as a Democratic lawmaker, Brostoff endeared himself to Republican colleagues.

GOP Rep. Paul Tittl found Brostoff, who was Jewish, to be “a deeply spiritual person” who asked to attend a regular Capitol Bible study that Republican lawmakers, all Christian, organized. “He always added to the  conversation.”

In the Senate, Sen. Andre Jacque recalled both Brostoff’s participation in the Bible study program as well as his enthusiasm for the gaming community. “One thing that always struck me about Jonathan is that he was somebody who was unafraid to put himself out there and have conversations,” Jacque said. “I’m going to miss him.”

Vetting candidates and repairing the world

Brostoff took it upon himself to vet prospective candidates.

One was Rep. Robyn Vining, ahead of her first election to the Assembly in 2018. At a Colectivo Coffee near UWM, “Jonathan grilled me with questions, and was very clear on his priorities,” Vining said. “He was also very clear that he would not be supporting me if I did not pass his test.”

They talked. “What I didn’t realize was that after I did pass that test, Jonathan was going to jump on board and fight for me, which is exactly what he did,” Vining said. “We finished my vetting, and he said, ‘OK, let’s go knock some doors.’”

First-term Rep. Sequanna Taylor was another such candidate. Friends from before she decided to run for the Assembly, she and Brostoff and their families were dining together early in her campaign.  

“In the middle of him eating, he was like, ‘Give me your spiel,’” Taylor said. She was caught off guard, but he persisted.

“And so, you know, I went into my little spiel, and he took a moment and he looked at me. He was like, ‘You’ll be good,’” she said. “Then he was like, ‘Next time somebody asks you this, though, I want you to be able to say this in 30 seconds flat.’”

Brostoff was always straightforward, Taylor said. “You never had to worry about a gray area with JoBro, because there was no gray area with him.”

Sen. LaTonya Johnson recalled a riot in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood, part of her district, after an officer-involved shooting 10 years ago. She was visiting the scene the second night of unrest — “I was not brave enough to go that first night,” she confessed — when Brostoff showed up with big packs of chewing gum.

“This is de-escalation gum,” Johnson recalled him saying. She was skeptical, “but lo and behold the longer we were out there, when things became confrontational, Jonathan would walk up and he said, ‘You want gum?’ And people would stop, and they would take it.” And, she said, it helped redirect people’s attention.

Subeck said she and Brostoff were two of three Jewish members of the Assembly when they both took office in 2015. She described the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam, to repair the world.

“This is a concept that is built on our guiding principles of social justice, of making the world a better place, of taking care of our world and taking care of its people,” Subeck said. “And Jonathan, more than just about anybody else I know, lived up to that principle.”

Acknowledging struggles, seeking change

Brostoff was candid about his own mental health history, Subeck added. “He brought his own struggles, and he shared his very personal struggles with all of us here in the Legislature, and I believe that they made me, and hopefully made many of you, a better legislator.”

There were also calls to address directly how Brostoff’s life had ended.

“I hope that we will recommit ourselves to preventing needless deaths in this state and to doing what Jonathan would want us to do, and enacting policies that will save other lives, even though we are too late to save his,” said Sen. Mark Spreitzer. “I will miss my friend Jonathan Brostoff, may his memory be a blessing.”

“Jonathan’s story is one that too many Wisconsin families know the pain of,” said Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin. “In 2022 alone, 530 Wisconsinites died by suicide with firearms.”

Habush Sinykin read to her colleagues a statement from Brostoff’s widow, Diana Vang-Brostoff, and his parents, Alan and Phyllis Brostoff. Earlier, Rep. Deb Andraca read the same statement in the Assembly.

“Once again, we want to thank the Wisconsin Legislature for today honoring the memory of our husband and son,” the statement began.

Their statement recounted the circumstances of Brostoff’s death as well as a commentary Brostoff wrote in October 2019 that was published in the Wisconsin State Journal and Urban Milwaukee about his failed suicide attempts as a teenager. Brostoff had just served on a Legislature task force on suicide prevention. 

They quoted Brostoff’s column, in which he wrote that access to a firearm for someone contemplating suicide “is like having your own personal permanent delete button.” In the essay he had acknowledged that if had had access to a gun at the time of those teenage attempts to kill himself, “I would not be here today.”

“Our family believes that had Jonathan been required to wait perhaps a day or two or any amount of time after entering that gun store last November to make that purchase, his life may have been spared,” their statement concluded.

“And so now, in the interest of saving other lives at risk for mental health issues, domestic violence or other circumstances, it is our hope that you find the collective will to reinstate a reasonable waiting period for finalizing gun purchases. Doing that would enhance your thoughtful and kind honoring of his memory today.”

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The U.S. and Wisconsin flags at half staff in commemoration of those killed and wounded in a December school shooting in Madison. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)

Republican lawmakers are proposing bills they say will help protect children from gun violence by arming  teachers, providing grants to schools to improve building safety and staff training and eliminating taxes on gun safes. 

In the aftermath of the December school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, in which a teacher and student were killed and six others were injured, Gov. Tony Evers announced at the State of the State address that he plans to propose stricter background checks and red flag laws to address gun violence.

Republican leaders were not receptive to the proposals. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said there are already some gun control measures in state statute and added, “sometimes people do bad things and there’s only so much that we can do to prevent it.”

Republican lawmakers in the last week have started circulating three proposals they say would be more effective in curbing gun violence.

One of the proposals, from Rep. Scott Allen (R-Waukesha) and Sen. Cory Tomczyk (R-Mosinee), would allow teachers with a gun license to carry firearms on campus if school boards adopt a policy saying it’s allowed. 

“School shootings are tragedies we hate to see… The knowledge that no one on the premises has the firepower to stop them emboldens bad actors,” the lawmakers stated in a co-sponsorship memo. 

Asked at a Monday press conference why his proposal is preferable to Evers’, Allen noted that an armed guard is typically stationed outside his office in the state Capitol. 

“Must be for a reason. If you travel with the governor, you’ll find that he has Wisconsin State Patrol armed with him wherever he goes… Why should he deserve that kind of protection and not our kids in schools?” Allen said. “The reality is that if somebody is intent on doing evil, and they have a weapon of any sort — whether it’s a firearm or a knife or anything — they’re dangerous, and we need to meet force with force, if we’re going to stop it.”

Allen also said that he thinks many actions could be taken to address school shootings including working to improve mental health.

“We’ve supported things in the past regarding that — supported the governor in increasing mental health aides and improving our schools’ ability to communicate with students and address mental health issues in schools,” Allen said. “We need to harden the targets. We need to make it impossible or practically impossible for any perpetrator to get in our schools to begin with.”

According to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), there were 503 mass shootings in 2024 and as of Jan. 27, there have been 18 in 2025. GVA defines a mass shooting as one where there are “a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident.”

A 2024 report by Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions found that firearms continue to be a leading cause of death for kids and teens, and that Black children and teens are disproportionately the victims. 

Wisconsin’s current law prohibits people — with the exception of law enforcement officers — from carrying firearms on school grounds, and any individual found knowingly possessing one could be charged with a felony.

The bill making it legal for teachers to carry guns to school would also seek to make it easier for teachers to obtain a gun license by waiving the cost of the initial application fee, renewal fee and background check fee for teachers who apply for a license.

This is the second time the lawmakers have introduced the proposal. They introduced it for the first time in 2023 at the request of the Germantown school board. The board passed a resolution in August 2022 following a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which killed 19 children and two teachers and injured 17 others.

“We need to protect our students from bad actors who perversely seek infamy, and we should allow local school boards, with community input, to determine the right policies to ensure that students are protected,” the lawmakers stated. “Sometimes the best way to deter bad actors is with the threat of force, and this bill gives that choice to school districts.” 

Grants to schools 

Another proposal from Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp), Rep. Joy Goeben (R-Hobart) and Allen would provide grants for Wisconsin public, private and tribal schools to improve the safety of their buildings and provide security training for school personnel. 

The bill would invest $30 million in a one-time grant program that would be administered by the Office of School Safety. The office, which is a part of the Department of Justice, was created under the 2017 Wisconsin Act 143, and under that law, $100 million was appropriated to the DOJ in fiscal year 2018-19 for awarding school safety grants.

In 2018, the DOJ was able to award 1,325 grants totaling $94.5 million to school districts, private, independent charter and tribal schools and the remaining funds went to supporting other school safety initiatives, including adolescent mental health training. 

“As a state, we need to ensure that our Wisconsin schools have the necessary tools and resources needed to create and maintain a safe learning environment for all students,” the lawmakers stated in a memo to their colleagues. “Just like the funding from Act 143, we are confident that these additional funds will achieve this goal of giving more Wisconsin schools the chance to further enhance and update their safety measures.”

The new proposal would give priority to schools that did not receive any grant funds or missed the deadlines in the prior funding rounds, but it would be open to any schools. The DOJ would be able to award a maximum amount of $20,000 to an applicant. 

Under the bill, the program would sunset on July 1, 2027. 

Tax exemption for gun safes

Another pair of lawmakers — Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee) and Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) — are proposing eliminating taxes on gun safes as a way to help people afford them. 

The lawmakers said in a memo that they are putting the legislation forth “to encourage people to store guns securely, and keep children safe from accidental injury, death, and suicide.” 

“Simply put, this bill promotes responsible gun safety,” the lawmakers stated.

Evers included a similar measure in his 2023-25 budget proposal, but it was removed by Republican lawmakers. A handful of states — including Michigan, Tennessee and Washington — have adopted this policy.

A similar bill was also proposed in 2019 with bipartisan support, though it failed to pass either chamber. At the time, the state Department of Revenue estimated that the bill would have resulted in $309,000 in lost tax revenue. 

One Democratic senator is skeptical the measure would adequately address the gun violence problem facing the state and that lawmakers should be taking stronger actions to reduce the harm that children face from guns.

“Wisconsinites want safe communities where our kids have the freedom to learn and reach their potential without the fear of gun violence. Instead of implementing proven measures to reduce firearm injuries and gun violence, like safe storage laws and universal background checks, GOP politicians are offering a tax exemption,” Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said in a statement. 

Safe storage laws — which have been adopted by 26 states across the U.S. — require gun owners to store their firearms in a way that prevents unauthorized access, in order to keep guns out of the hands of children.

“We need to ensure that kids can’t access guns, and that if a house with kids has guns, they are stored safely away from kids,” Roys continued. “This bill will do virtually nothing to keep kids safe, but the GOP politicians now cynically backing it are hoping it will keep them safe during their next election.”

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Milwaukee cut homicides dramatically by getting community members involved in the work of the Office of Violence Prevention. | Photo by Getty Images Creative

Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order on Jan. 14 establishing Wisconsin’s first statewide Office of Violence Prevention. This announcement was praised by most and erroneously criticized by others who are ill-informed about the life-saving role that this type of office can play in addressing gun violence. I would know, because in Milwaukee we did it. 

I became director of Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention in 2016 after the city experienced a 70% increase in homicides in 2015. I was committed to ensuring that the voices of those from the neighborhoods most affected by violence would be centered in determining the priorities for increasing community safety and wellbeing in our city. 

We engaged thousands of community residents and stakeholders including youth, survivors, former perpetrators, clergy, law enforcement, activists, philanthropies, public health workers, business leaders and elected officials in a process to develop Milwaukee’s first comprehensive violence prevention plan known as the Blueprint for Peace. 

The launch and implementation of the Blueprint coincided with a steady four-year decline in homicides and non-fatal shootings in Milwaukee from 2016-2019. In fact, during the same period, Milwaukee experienced one of the deepest declines in homicides and non-fatal shootings in the country and achieved two consecutive years of fewer than 100 homicides before the pandemic. 

In 2020, Milwaukee and cities across the country were hit with historic levels of gun violence that continue to this day. Over the past four years, federal policies and investments in comprehensive approaches to violence prevention have contributed to historic reductions in homicides and non-fatal shootings across the country. 

If arrest and prosecution were the sole answers to violence, America would be the safest country on the planet. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The smartest police chiefs, prosecutors and judges will tell you that investments in violence prevention make a real difference in public safety. 

Nothing is stronger on crime than being smart about it. Research from the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform’s The Cost of Violence – Milwaukee, WI report found that a single homicide in Wisconsin cost taxpayers $2 million per incident and a single non-fatal shooting costs $644,000. 

For context, Milwaukee ended 2024 with 132 homicides and 639 nonfatal shootings, resulting in a total cost to taxpayers of $264,411,516 in a single year! That is half the cost of building one Fiserv Forum. 

In contrast, a single violence intervention program in Milwaukee known as 414 LIFE has intervened in over 250 high risk conflicts since 2018 that could have resulted in a non-fatal shooting or homicide, saving taxpayers approximately $500 million. 

Combined funding from the city and county for this program is $2 million per year. The return on investment in violence prevention is clear. Furthermore, doing everything possible to prevent another resident from ending up in a hospital bed, graveyard or jail cell should be a shared priority regardless of political affiliation. 

While the details of the state office are being worked out, the effectiveness of such an office is dependent on competent leadership, unwavering support and sustainable funding. I hope that the governor and his team take a similar approach to the one that produced Milwaukee’s Blueprint for Peace by centering the voices of those most affected by violence as they determine the new office’s priorities for solutions and investment. Anything less would be a missed opportunity.

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Wisconsin requires proof of identification to vote. 

Republicans in the Legislature put a referendum on the April 1 ballot to add the requirement to the state constitution. State Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, said the amendment makes it “harder to vote” than to buy a gun.

In Wisconsin, federally licensed gun dealers are required to do background checks on gun purchasers, but other sellers, such as individuals selling privately or at gun shows, are not.

According to a 2015 national survey of gun owners, 22% who made their most recent purchase within two years said they did so without a background check; the figure was 57% among gun owners in states such as Wisconsin that didn’t regulate private gun sales.

It’s the latest national survey, said Johns Hopkins University gun policy expert Daniel Webster.

On voter ID, a University of Wisconsin-Madison study estimated Wisconsin’s law prevented 4,000-11,000 Milwaukee and Dane county residents from voting in the 2016 presidential election.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Wisconsin Elections Commission: If you have one of these photo IDs, you are ready to vote!
• Wisconsin Legislative Council: 2011 Wisconsin Act 23
• University of Wisconsin-Madison: Wisconsin’s voter ID controversy: what you need to know
• Wisconsin State Legislature: Senate Joint Resolution 2
• Wisconsin State Legislature: Enrolled Joint Resolution — referendum question
• WisconsinEye: Sen. Kelda Roys remarks
• Wisconsin Legislative Council: Firearm Regulation in Wisconsin
• Giffords Law Center: Background Check Procedures in Wisconsin
• NRA: Wisconsin Gun Laws
• Election Law Journal: Voter Identification and Nonvoting in Wisconsin—Evidence from the 2016 Election
• University of California, Berkeley: Voter ID Laws: What Do We Know So Far?
• Annals of Internal Medicine: Firearm Acquisition Without Background Checks: Results of a National Survey

In Wisconsin, do you need more proof of ID to vote than to buy a gun? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Gov. Tony Evers announced the creation of the Office of Violence Prevention. Later, that day Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said it wouldn't be effective. Evers and Vos pictured at Evers' 2024 State of the State. Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner.

Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order Tuesday to create the Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention in response to the December shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison where a teacher and a student died and six others were injured. 

Evers spoke about troubling  gun death statistics in Wisconsin and across the country. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, the rate of gun deaths has increased 54% from 2014 to 2023 in Wisconsin, compared to a 34% increase nationwide. A recent report by the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort (WAVE) Educational Fund, a leading gun violence prevention organization, found that guns claimed the lives of 830 Wisconsinites, including 529 firearm suicides and 277 firearm homicides, in 2022.

“Violence is a statewide problem with statewide consequences for people and families across our state,” Evers said at a press conference Tuesday morning, adding that people across Wisconsin deserve a comprehensive response. He said that the Office of Violence Prevention will be one important step in combating the problem. 

Evers is directing $10 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money for the office, which will be housed in the Department of Administration. Its work will include administering grants to school districts, firearm dealers, law enforcement agencies, nonprofits and government agencies to support violence and gun violence prevention efforts. Those who receive grants could use the money for expenses including supporting law enforcement investigations, using crime gun intelligence tools, implementing suicide prevention education to identify people in crisis, promoting and administering safe storage and gun buyback programs and implementing suicide prevention and firearm safety training in schools. 

Other responsibilities of the office will include helping coordinate state and local agencies to “ensure a whole-of-government approach to prevent violence, including gun violence statewide,” providing technical assistance to local violence prevention and intervention efforts; and developing public education campaigns to promote safer communities and identifying opportunities to improve statewide policies or laws.

While the office will be launched using federal money, Evers is proposing that Wisconsin make the office permanent in the 2025-27 state budget with ongoing state funding, but Republican lawmakers appeared opposed to the effort. 

The proposal is unlikely to get the support of Republican lawmakers, who said the office wouldn’t help the issue.

“It takes a bureaucrat to think that another government agency is actually going to be effective,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Racine) said about the office Tuesday afternoon. “I think what we need to do is to increase funding for our police and public safety services, not create a whole bunch of touchy-feely bureaucrats that are going to go around wasting time, wasting money.”

Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) also appeared skeptical that the office would be effective in helping prevent violence, and pointed to a similar local office in Milwaukee, saying it hasn’t worked. 

“Let me get this straight, Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention was so ineffective at preventing violence that they fired the director and renamed the office,” Wanggaard said in a statement. The office is now called the Office of Community Wellness and Safety, and its director recently resigned. “Now, Governor Evers wants to replicate that failure at the state level?” 

Evers said that he will also propose the “most sweeping, comprehensive package of gun safety reform and violence prevention efforts” that he’s ever introduced while in office in his 2025 budget. He said additional details will be announced in the coming weeks. 

Evers noted that Republican lawmakers have rejected his previous efforts, including a special session call, to implement gun safety reform such as universal background checks and red flag laws.

“In 2025, that just cannot continue to be the case,” Evers said. 

“I have no problem making sure that criminals are not able to access firearms, but I also want to make sure that if people have not committed a crime, they are not artificially held back from legally obtaining a firearm to protect themselves,” Vos said.

Democratic state lawmakers and local officials expressed support for Evers’ proposals. 

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (R-Racine) said that the office will help move Wisconsin forward when it comes to preventing gun violence. 

“We should be doing everything in our power to keep our communities safe,” Neubauer said. “It’s far past time we take action on common sense policies to build a safer Wisconsin.” 

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said the issue of gun violence is a “public health” problem. She said the city has seen improvement through its violence prevention team, which in the last year helped over 100 people, including some who engaged in violence, some who were victims of violence and others who were affected by violence. She said the team works to address the root causes of violence and the aftermath of violence. 

“We do not have to accept living like this,” Rhodes-Conway said. “Violence is contagious and if you can contain it by supporting the folks who are touched, we have a chance to reduce violence in our communities.” 

Rhodes-Conway said she was grateful that Evers was creating and funding the statewide office to help support Madison’s efforts as well as other communities across the state. 

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said that he was “deeply grateful” to Evers for making violence prevention a statewide priority and is looking forward to working with his administration to help make the county and Wisconsin safe. 

“Gun violence continues to devastate communities across Milwaukee County and beyond,” Crowley said. “However, we have seen encouraging progress, including reduced homicide rates and positive outcomes from targeted violence prevention efforts, such as the Advance Peace program.”

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