The Wisconsin State Assembly on Tuesday, June 9 approved a bill to repeal the state’s current 48-hour waiting period for handgun purchases.
Fewer than a dozen states and the District of Columbia continue to impose some type of waiting period for law-abiding persons to purchase handguns. Wisconsin’s restriction has been in place for nearly 40 years.
“The bill is being made out to be something more than it is,” the bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Romaine Quinn (R-Rice Lake), said on the Assembly floor while reacting to criticism from Assembly Democrats this week. “You still have to pass the background check. You can’t be a criminal. This allows law-abiding citizens to take a gun home the same day. We can’t tell law-abiding citizens they can’t do that.”
A spokesman for Gov. Scott Walker said he supports laws that “make it easier for law-abiding citizens to access firearms and difficult for criminals to obtain illegal firearms.”
