GOP bill would allow guns in Wisconsin schools

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Two weeks after a school shooting in Nashville, a pair of GOP lawmakers have proposed a bill that would allow school administrators and other officials carry guns in Wisconsin schools.

Under the bill, school boards would have to create and approve their own concealed carry policy to allow it, according to a co-sponsor memo issued by Rep. Scott Allen (R-Waukesha) and Sen. Cory Tomczyk (R-Mosinee). 

“The sad reality is that school shootings have happened,” Rep. Allen said in a statement. “Schools provide soft targets for those looking to do harm, and this bill gives school boards the option to change that.”

Within minutes of the proposal being introduced, Gov. Tony Evers vowed to veto it.

Evers and Democrats have advocated for more gun control measures such as universal background checks and so-called "red flag" laws that allow courts to remove firearms from individuals who are deemed a threat to themselves or others. The GOP-controlled Legislature has refused to take votes or hold public hearings on the measures.

Last year, Evers vetoed three GOP-authored bills that would have expanded gun rights, including a proposal to lower the concealed carry age from 21 to 18 and allowing some high school students and parents to have firearms on school property.

This new bill, proposed by Allen and Tomczyk, was introduced after a 28-year-old killed three children and three adults at a Christian school in Nashville.

Allen said he drafted the bill at the request of the Germantown School Board, who wrote him a letter explaining their opposition to "gun free school zone signs" that "do nothing but notify a criminal that there will be few, if any, people in the building that can defend themselves.”

The proposal would let local school districts adopt a policy that allows employees who are licensed to possess a firearm obtain a gun on school property, and teachers could waive fees associated to obtaining a concealed carry license under the bill.  

“We need to protect our students,” said Allen. “Every local school district should be given the choice to protect their students from bad actors with the awareness that schools are no longer soft targets.”