This past week found Middleton Wisconsin, an upscale suburb of Madison, in the national spotlight following a mass shooting at a local software company. In this case the shooter was an employee who wounded several other employees and who died of gunshot wounds after a shoot out with police. As of this writing no motive was available from state and local authorities.
Most of our readers understand that I am in favor of gun control that includes universal background checks, keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and domestic abusers, and removing AR-15 style weapons from anyone not in law enforcement.
The shooter in the Middleton event shouldn’t have been able to purchase a firearm. In 2004, police in Sioux Falls, South Dakota confiscated his firearms because they found him to be delusional and paranoid. That confiscation is in the public record and should have prevented this individual from acquiring a gun through a registered gun dealer. But he got one…some how…and nearly killed three of his co-workers.
The United States needs to improve gun control. People like the Middleton shooter who have had guns confiscated because of mental illness…can’t be allowed to avoid background checks and re-acquire firearms. And the shooter did not have a Wisconsin concealed carry permit…but applying for that would have alerted authorities to his illegal ownership of weapons.
And kudos to the law enforcement agencies who entered the premises of the software company without hesitation…and followed their training…and took out the shooter before further injuries to innocent people or a potential loss of life.
So how does this affect the US Senate race in Wisconsin between Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin and her challenger, GOP state Senator Leah Vukmir? Well here are their followup comments:
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said Thursday the shooting shows the need for gun control measures that are “consistent with the Second Amendment.”
Baldwin, who said she is a gun owner and Second Amendment supporter, said at a news conference Thursday that she supports universal background checks and banning rapid-fire “bump stock” devices. Authorities have not indicated that such a device was used in the Middleton shooting.
The senator supports universal background checks…it seems to me that might have helped prevent this tragedy…if the seller of the gun used by the shooter would have completed a background check…he wouldn’t have sold the gun.
But from the Vukmir campaign:
Jess Ward, the campaign manager for Baldwin’s Republican opponent, Leah Vukmir, says Baldwin is “spewing do-nothing nonsense” to a serious issue.
Do-nothing nonsense? Senator Baldwin’s repeated call for universal background checks are hardly nonsense. And from my point of view mild and insufficient…but I’ll accept it as a start.
But, waiting for the other shoe to drop here, what exactly is Senator Vukmir’s solution for this ‘serious issue’? I would really like to hear that! Silence is the more do-nothing nonsense if you ask me.
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