WASHINGTON — The first new federal gun safety law in decades passed without any support from Wisconsin’s Republicans in Congress.

What You Need To Know

  • The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act provides $750 million for crisis intervention, school safety and mental health programs
  • The law also extends gun restrictions to dating partners convicted of domestic violence but not living with the victim, closing what’s known as the boyfriend loophole
  • All six members of Wisconsin's congressional delegation voted against the bill

 

On Friday, President Joe Biden signed the bill into law saying he hopes will save lives. It was a rare moment of consensus around gun legislation in Washington just over a month after deadly mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and at a Texas elementary school.

“We know that this bill will save lives,” Nicholas Matuszewski, a policy and strategic partnerships associate for Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort (WAVE) said. “And we know that it's a step in the right direction. It's an incremental step. But it's a compromise. And that's okay, but we need to follow on and have more because this isn't going to do enough.”

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act provides $750 million for crisis intervention, school safety and mental health programs. Some of the things WAVE, the nonprofit gun violence prevention organization, has been seeking for years.

But Matuszewski  is concerned that Republican state lawmakers may not use the money to implement extreme risk protection orders (ERPO) also known as red flag laws, which allow guns to be taken away from people who are a danger.

“The way the bill was passed and written, there's too many alternative ways that the funding can be spent,” he said. “So if you're a state that doesn't want to enact ERPO laws, you can use the funding for drug rehab courts or veteran courts or things like that.”

Although the state legislature is adjourned for the session, how Wisconsin Republican lawmakers in Washington view the legislation might telegraph the temperature.

All six GOP members voted against the bill which also was opposed by the NRA.

“We have a very big crime problem here in America and it did not address that issue,” Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua said. “Also, the red flag laws that were being proposed in there, I believe are unconstitutional. And once again, they're not going to get at the problem that we have.”

Congressman Tiffany said he would rather see tougher sentences for criminals and more spending on hardening schools.

“It's more important to get it right than to be able to say do something, we did not get it right,” he said. “And it's not going to stop the next school shooting.”