Last night, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers released his 2023 proposed budget package, which included extensive gun violence prevention funding. The budget package outlines a plan to protect Wisconsin communities and signals Gov. Evers’ commitment to saving Wisconsin lives.
“Gun violence prevention measures are only effective if they are properly resourced and implemented,” said Erica Throneburg, a volunteer with the Wisconsin chapter of Moms Demand Action. “This budget proposal signals Governor Evers’ prioritization of fighting to end gun violence. We’re grateful for his continued commitment to gun safety – especially alongside a legislature that continues to prioritize politics over safety that would rather weaken gun laws than save lives.”
Governor Evers and Lieutenant Governor Rodriguez’s budget package includes a proposal of $500 million to local governments to address unique public safety needs, and create and support statewide, collaborative initiatives to prevent gun violence. The budget includes support for measures to require background checks on unlicensed firearm sales, to enact an Extreme Risk law to temporarily remove firearms from those who pose an immediate threat to themselves or others, and to promote secure firearm storage. The budget also includes funding to address the role firearms play in intimate partner violence by prohibiting those with a misdemeanor domestic abuse conviction from owning or possessing a gun.
Wisconsin has some of the weakest gun laws in the country. Wisconsin has no law requiring background checks on unlicensed gun sales or Extreme Risk law to allow family members and law enforcement to petition for the temporary removal of guns from dangerous situations. Additionally, the existing state laws prohibiting domestic abusers from possessing guns are dangerously incomplete. In an average year, 641 people die and 1,028 are wounded by guns in Wisconsin. An average of 51 children and teens die by guns every year in the state, of which 43% of these deaths are suicides and 51% are homicides. Gun violence in Wisconsin costs $1,448 per person each year. Gun deaths and injuries cost Wisconsin $8.4 billion each year, of which $144.3 million is paid by taxpayers.
More information about gun violence in Wisconsin is available here.