10-22-19 evers calls special session on gun control laws

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Monday called the Legislature into a special session next month to take up a pair of gun control measures that its Republican leaders have been unwilling to debate, accusing them of telling those who support the measures to “go to hell.”   The move won’t force Republicans to debate or vote on the bills, but it will force them to at least convene the special session. That gives Evers and Democrats a chance to put a spotlight on the gun control measures that a Marquette University Law School poll last month said had over 80% support.  Republican leaders said they would not pass the bills, calling them an attack on Second Amendment rights.  Evers, at a news conference in Milwaukee surrounded by anti-gun violence advocates, Mayor Tom Barrett, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and Democratic lawmakers, said Republicans unwilling to take up the bills were choosing “weakness over common sense.”   “How many times can you go against 80% of the people of the state of Wisconsin and essentially tell them to go to hell and expect to be re-elected?” Evers said of Republicans. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”  Both Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who is also running for Congress, said Republicans would not take up bills they saw as an infringement on constitutional rights to own guns.   “We will not entertain proposals that infringe on our constitutional rights,” Vos said.  Evers wants the Legislature to take up a bill that would require universal background checks for most handgun purchases. He’s also calling on them to vote on a “red flag” bill that would give judges the power to take weapons away from people deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.    The special session, which is scheduled to convene Nov. 7, is the first Evers has called as governor. Special sessions have become increasingly common in Wisconsin, with 74 called since 1961. Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker called nine of them over his eight years in office, most recently in March of 2018 to take up school safety bills.

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