Free Republic

David Dies fears that if Gov. Scott Walker succeeds in eliminating the Wisconsin Educational Approval Board, the for-profit schools it oversees will ramp up practices that could harm students. “If you basically throw the rule book out, I can guarantee you that they will take advantage of their ability to market and recruit as aggressively as possible,” said Dies, the board’s executive secretary. The proposal to eliminate the EAB is part of Walker’s proposed 2015-17 budget. Since its unveiling in February, Dies has been trying to persuade state lawmakers to reject the idea. Dies said his small agency is already...

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a challenge to Wisconsin’s voter ID law, which it had previously kept from going into effect before November’s elections. The court’s decision not to review a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the law was a victory for Gov. Scott Walker (R) and perhaps other states that have tightened voting procedures to require additional identification.

You’d think Wisconsin Republicans would reward themselves with some rest after pulling off—via a great deal of misdirection from Scott Walker—the enactment of a southern-style “right to work” law banning union shop agreements reached via voluntary free-market contract negotiations. But no: as The Nation’s Moshe Marvit explains, Badger State GOPers are back with a bill to revoke the right to a day off after seven days of labor. The new bill, which is being sponsored by Republican Van Wanggaard in the State Senate alongside [Rep. Mark] Born in the Assembly, would add a provision to the “day of rest” law...

When Gov. Scott Walker remarked this week, while discussing proposed budget cuts to the UW System, that faculty and staff should be teaching more classes and doing more work, it bared one of the most enduring sources of friction in higher education. To listen to many university critics, the primary function of faculty members is that of a teacher in a classroom — someone who educates students in a model that is, in many respects, a continuation of high school. Working with students whose families may have saved for years and taken on significant debt to afford higher education is...

While President Obama campaigned on a promise that his universal health care plan would lower premiums, his controversial adviser and plan architect was privately warning the state of Wisconsin that Obamacare was poised to massively increase insurance costs for average residents, internal documents show...... [MIT economist Jonathan] Gruber’s study predicted about 90 percent of individuals without employer-sponsored or public insurance would see their premiums spike by an average of 41 percent. Once tax subsidies were factored in, about 60 percent of those in the individual market were projected to see their premiums go up 31 percent, according to his analysis.......

With non-fatal shootings in the city up 19% in June and July compared with last year, Police Chief Edward Flynn and Mayor Tom Barrett on Monday called on state legislators to pass laws boosting penalties for criminals who possess firearms. Three people were killed and eight others were wounded over the weekend, a toll more violent than the same weekend last year. Milwaukee police statistics also show that June and July this year have had the most non-fatal shootings since the same months in 2006. Flynn and Barrett said the linkage between firearms-related deadly violence and criminals was clear-cut. "The...

Jerry Hancock isn’t your typical minister. A clergy member at First Congregational Church of Christ, Hancock is one of a handful of former law enforcement officials — most prominently former Madison Police Chief David Couper, who left the police to become an Episcopal priest — who have entered the spiritual realm. “When I was working through my transition, people would say, oh, you’re just like Couper,” Hancock says. “And that of course, was and continues to be a compliment. David is very concerned about gun violence.”

While nursing my emotional wounds after reading that I am not Eugene Kane's favorite "gun guy," I nevertheless found it enjoyable reading his views regarding the National Rifle Association (Crossroads, Jan. 20). While lambasting the NRA, he writes about the problem common among all humans. Not only on guns, but to virtually to all areas of human life. That is, of course, our different perceptions. Two guys who grew up together, went to schools together and shared virtually all the same experiences look at a framed picture of an object and see different images. One knows the object is square,...

Let me say this as clearly as I can: I'm sick and tired of the NRA. As one of millions of American citizens who don't own a gun or consider gun ownership part of my personal DNA, I'm tired of a powerful national organization for gun advocates that seems tone-deaf in the face of unprecedented concern about the amount of gun violence in our society. I'm tired of an organization that constantly resists any initiative for more gun control even in the wake of sensational shootings that have become a disturbing part of the American fabric. I'm tired of tight-faced...

When Wisconsinites were polled last year about a new state law allowing possession of concealed weapons, most men supported it. But women were overwhelmingly opposed. In fact no other issue in Marquette Law School’s broad and frequent polling of Wisconsin voters last year so divided the sexes -- not Medicare, “Obamacare,” gay marriage, taxes, school funding, collective bargaining, recalls, mining, defense spending, abortion or immigration. In one January 2012 poll, the gender gap on “concealed-carry” was a massive 27 points (59% approval among men, 32% among women). This is a look at two key fault lines in public opinion about...

Lawmakers should craft legislation to close a loophole in guns laws through which unlicensed sellers can peddle weapons to buyers without background checks. Had such a law been in place, it might have kept kept a gun out of the hands of Radcliffe Haughton and saved the lives of three women at the Azana Salon & Spa in Brookfield. Yes, it seems apparent now that Haughton was bent on killing his estranged wife. And he may well have found another way to get a gun. But that doesn't mean that such legislation would not keep guns out of the hands...

As an elected district attorney, Christian Gossett is one of the few people Wisconsin's concealed carry law specifically allows to wear a weapon in a courthouse. But the judges in Winnebago County, where Gossett works, have said even he can't take a gun to work without written permission of whatever judge or court commissioner is presiding where Gossett might appear. So Gossett and his chief deputy Scott Ceman - both concealed carry permit holders - have asked the state Supreme Court to declare that the circuit judges have exceeded their authority and for a writ of prohibition to block them...

Firearms-related businesses in Wisconsin say they are having a difficult time meeting demand from rising gun sales in the state. Wisconsin's gun sales follow a national trend, and businesses say the rising demand is being driven by various factors, from Wisconsin's concealed carry law to presidential politics. "It's incredible," said Steve Lauer, owner of Lauer Custom Weaponry, which manufactures firearms, firearm coatings and accessories in Chippewa Falls. "We can hardly keep up." Exact figures on firearms sales don't exist, but based on the number of calls made to the FBI and Wisconsin Department of Justice for background checks related to...

So the state has just passed the 100,000 concealed carry permit threshold. Does that mean people are buying more handguns? You betcha. And then some. Sure, a lot of the people applying for concealed carry permits already have guns. But the state Justice Department has seen record numbers of applications for background checks for gun buys, which hit 14,842 in February, the last month for which the agency supplied data. That’s more than double the 6,314 background checks in February 2011, which was up from the 4,994 background checks in 2010. The state’s new concealed carry law may account for...

Over the past six months, Wisconsin adopted a castle doctrine law and became the 49th state to adopt a concealed-carry law. These laws have changed the landscape of the state, and while it is too early to determine what impact the new legislation will have on safety, it is not too early to stress personal responsibility. People who choose to legally carry concealed weapons should know how to use them. This is not a First Amendment issue. It is a safety issue. Under Act 35, those seeking a concealed-carry permit do not need to demonstrate that they know how to...

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wisc. (WEAU) --The conceal carry law has been in effect for just 4.5 months but already a state advocacy group is saying the law needs to be altered. The Milwaukee based group Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort or WAVE says it wants access to the list of all conceal carry permit holders. The Wisconsin Department of Justice says the law prohibits the state from divulging the identity of any concealed carry license holder unless it's necessary in a prosecution. Sine November 1st, the DOJ has granted more than 83,000 conceal carry permits. It’s denied about two percent of all applications...

The West Milwaukee gun shop whose license was revoked for breaking federal law stopped selling guns Dec. 31 but continues to run a shooting range and sell ammunition and other accessories, as allowed by federal law. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revoked the federal firearms license of Badger Guns last year and set a deadline for Dec. 31 to end firearm sales. The store stopped selling guns on that date but can continue to sell ammunition and other items and run the shooting range because those activities do not require a gun dealer's license, according to...

Dec. 21, 2011 | Those federal civil rights lawsuits are paying off for Wisconsin Carry Inc., the gun rights advocacy group. The City of Madison agreed to pay $10,000 to settle a claim brought by the group and five members who were cited or arrested after wearing guns to a Culver's restaurant last year. Prosecutors in May decided to drop the charges filed in the matter.

Wisconsin Department of Justice struggles to meet deadlines Madison - In less than six weeks, 56,000 people applied for a permit under Wisconsin's new concealed carry law and thousands more bought handguns, swamping the state agency handling the required background checks. The applicants so far amount to about 1% of the state's population, and very few of them have been rejected for a permit. The number of state background checks for handgun purchases is also up more than 50% for the year - another sign of the large numbers of people taking advantage of the new concealed carry law. The...

What a bunch of liberals those Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature are. And now they're forcing Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to be, in his own words, "very liberal," too. We're talking, of course, about the GOP's anything-goes approach to allowing concealed guns in Wisconsin. You want to carry a hidden gun? No problem. Just send in for a permit and decide for yourself how much — if any — training you need. That's the liberal attitude of lawmakers such as Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, and Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend. They balked at the more conservative...