The Wisconsin Assembly passed Senate Bill 93 yesterday on a bipartisan vote of 68-27. Governor Scott Walker is expected to sign the bill into law, which could go into effect as early as October 1. The bill allows adult citizens to carry concealed guns and electric weapons like Tasers. Wisconsin and Illinois are the only two states in the country that outlaw concealed carry, but former Governor Jim Doyle twice vetoed concealed carry legislation during his two terms as governor.
Under the new legislation, guns will not be allowed in law enforcement offices, state mental health facilities, courthouses, and airports beyond security checkpoints, but guns could not be banned from public-owned grounds, including UW-Madison grounds. It will be legal to prohibit guns in public and private facilities, including university buildings, if signs forbidding guns are placed in every building.
Both the Wisconsin State Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published this editorial written by alumni from two universities that experienced gun violence in recent years — Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University.
PROFS opposed the concealed carry legislation. Faculty leaders felt very strongly that the university should have the ability to ban guns on all university grounds, not just in buildings.