Wisconsin’s Chiefs of Police Association and the Wisconsin Fraternal Order of Police support the legislation.
Republican lawmakers at the Wisconsin Capitol want to make sure dangerous felons who carry illegal guns go to prison.
The Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice on Tuesday held a hearing on Assembly Bill 58, a plan that would require five years in prison for any felon caught with a gun.
“We have numerous situations where judges have ignored or chosen not to address the fact that the convicted felons who they are sentencing were in possession of firearms,” Rep. Tom Michalski, R-Elm Grove, told lawmakers. “In Milwaukee County alone, over 3,500 gun possession cases were sent to the D.A.’s office between 2011 and 2015. Thirty seven percent of these never had charges filed.”
Michalski is the chief sponsor of the legislation. Sen. Jesse James, R-Altoona, will lead the effort in the Senate.
On Tuesday, James hinted that the lack of punishment for felons who continue to carry guns is one of the reasons why Milwaukee has seen a spike in violent crime.
“Public safety has been on everyone’s mind lately. And the concern over crimes involving firearms is not new,” James said. “Illegally possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon is an issue that has been overlooked in our state. From 2011 to 2015 three out of every four felons arrested for illegal possession of a gun in Milwaukee County didn’t go to prison. Over half weren’t even convicted.”
The new proposal would require judges to sentence felons to five years in jail if charged with having a gun. Wisconsin law has a five-year maximum for felony possession of a weapon, but no mandatory minimum.
Democratic Rep. Tip McGuire, D-Kenosha, worried that a mandatory minimum would either encourage prosecutors to offer plea deals to felony weapon suspects, or snare a lot of nondangerous felons.
“Under the law, a person who is convicted of, let’s say manufacturing and distributing heroin, if they possess a firearm [it’s] five years,” McGuire said. “The same as someone with, let’s say felony OWI and has a hunting rifle in their truck. They both get five years automatically.”
Under the proposed law, prosecutors could drop felony weapons possession charges, but judges could not drop the mandatory minimum.
Wisconsin’s Chiefs of Police Association and the Wisconsin Fraternal Order of Police support the legislation.
Gov. Tony Evers has not committed for or against the measure.