The mayor of Milwaukee, Wis., is reportedly looking to strengthen Badger State gun control laws, reportedly having “built a connection” with the Republican majority in Madison to accomplish his goals.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Mayor Cavalier Johnson, a Democrat serving in a non-partisan office, has listed gun control as one of his priorities. He was first elected last year and is looking to do something about the city’s homicide body count. Last year, according to the Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee rolled up 224 slayings, “the third straight year a record high was posted.” However, the Milwaukee Police Department lists only 215 homicides for 2022. Last year there were also 878 non-fatal shootings in the city, the police department website says.
Overall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—quoted by the newspaper—Wisconsin saw 348 homicides last year, amounting to an 88 percent spike since 2019.
The majority of those murders involved firearms. However, the report does not say whether the perpetrators possessed those guns legally or otherwise.
Last month, the Journal Sentinel reported that Democrats in the Legislature, along with Attorney General Josh Kaul, had reintroduced a package of gun control proposals “designed to address rising statewide homicide rates that follows a year of high-profile gun violence incidents in Milwaukee.” The newspaper described the group as a “legislative gun safety coalition.”
According to the newspaper’s Homicide Database, the city has logged 92 homicides by Friday, which is down 32 at the same time last year. The database says 86 percent of the victims were shot.
Wisconsin Public Radio reported earlier this year that the city’s Office of Violence Prevention had received $12.65 million as part of the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021.
“But,” the WPR reported in April, “the office has spent or earmarked less than one-third of the total, according to records obtained by Wisconsin Public Radio. WPR requested from the Office of Violence Prevention a detailed summary of how the office has spent federal grants.”
In May, WISN News reported that 25 homicides had been linked to Milwaukee gangs.
In March, WITI-Fox 6 news reported one shocking case in which a 12-year-old boy had been arrested and charged as an adult in the murder of a 34-year-old man and the motive was allegedly “to steal guns.”
In last month’s report on gun control legislation, the newspaper said one of the measures reintroduced by Democrats “would expand background checks to a wider array of gun sales, closing current exceptions for guns purchased through private vendors, some online sales and gun shows.” Perhaps revealing a naiveté about criminals and guns, last month Johnson declared, “No one — and I mean no one — should be able to avoid a background check simply by purchasing a gun from an unlicensed seller.”
But criminals do not bother with background checks, critics consistently argue, regardless where on the map they happen to operate.
