A state lawmaker is arguing that armed citizens can help clean up the “scum bags” in society.
In a press release criticizing gun free zone policies, state Rep. Bob Gannon (R-Slinger) makes the case for more citizens carrying firearms to protect themselves from criminal elements. Gannon said “Wisconsin does not have a death penalty law, but with significant practice and careful aim, law abiding citizens can help clean our society of these scum bags. Criminals no longer have any fear of our courts or our prisons, so it’s time that the citizens of this fine state stand up and fight back.”
Gannon’s release follows a shooting at Madison’s East Towne Mall on Saturday, which is a gun free zone. A 19-year-old man received a non-fatal gunshot wound to the leg after a weapon was fired during a fight between two groups of people. The Slinger Republican argued the incident “makes clear that the leftist theory that a gun symbol inside of a circle with a line through it does not make the citizens of this state safer. It is evident that the criminal whom shot off his pistol at the mall either couldn’t read the gun ban sign or he didn’t comprehend the universal symbol that is now referred to as a target rich environment.”
The state’s concealed carry law allows private businesses and school campuses to prohibit weapons, even if a person has a license to carry. Gannon said thought that “a gang banger in the mall with a gun is going to think twice if there could be a law abiding CCW holder standing behind them fully prepared to shoot center mass, as this is how you’re trained to eliminate the threat these creeps pose to you, your family, and all law abiding citizens unwillingly dragged into their public crime spree.”
Gannon is co-sponsoring a bill that would end “gun free zone” policies on University of Wisconsin and technical college system campuses.
The Republican lawmaker’s comments quickly drew harsh criticism from state Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison), who accused Gannon of calling for a “vigilante uprising” that could endanger the public. She said “I am appalled by the dangerous rhetoric Representative Gannon chose to use in his press release. The incident at East Towne Mall was scary, but the answer is not to add more people with guns to the mix, and certainly not to call for private citizens to ‘shoot center mass.’ Representative Gannon is living in a James Bond dream world. If more guns made us safer, we would be the safest country in the world.”
Taylor argued the state should be working to make guns like the one used in the mall shooting harder to obtain. “Representative Gannon can keep repeating the same Fox talking points, but they are not grounded in fact,” she said.