In wake of Nashville, Wisconsin GOP lawmakers propose allowing school boards to approve concealed carry for employees in their buildings

MADISON – In the wake of a deadly school shooting in Nashville that killed three 9-year-olds and three adults, two Republican lawmakers are proposing to permit Wisconsin school officials to decide whether to allow employees who are licensed gun owners to carry firearms on school grounds — a measure Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has already pledged to veto.

Rep. Scott Allen of Waukesha and Sen. Cory Tomczyk of Mosinee on Monday released a bill that would create an exception to the state's law banning firearms on school grounds if the person holds a concealed carry license, is employed by the school, and the school board has adopted a policy that allows employees who are licensees to possess a firearm.

The proposal also waives for teachers the fees associated with obtaining a concealed carry license.

"School shootings are tragedies we hate to see. The reality is that schools are often soft targets for those looking to do harm. The knowledge that no one on the premise has the firepower to stop them emboldens bad actors," Allen and Tomczyk wrote in a co-sponsorship memo to colleagues seeking support.

"Parents are rightly asking for action to ensure the safety of their students."

In response, Evers said he would veto any legislation that weakens the state's gun-free schools law.

State and federal laws bar firearms in schools, but the federal Gun-Free Zones Act does not apply to individuals licensed by states to carry a handgun. The lawmakers are seeking to extend that exception to state law.

The legislation was released in the days following the March 27 shooting of three 9-year-old students and three staff members inside Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn. The suspect fired more than 150 rounds during the shooting. Bill authors drafted the bill in the fall of 2022, after receiving a resolution from the Germantown School Board calling for the measures, according to Allen's office.

Uvalde school massacre resolution from the Germantown School Board

Bill authors Allen and Tomczyk said the proposal is an answer to a 2022 resolution from the Germantown School Board in the wake of a shooting at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school that killed 19 students and two staff members. The resolution called on state officials to allow school districts to make their own decision about whether to allow license holders to carry firearms on school grounds.

"This bill does exactly that," Allen and Tomczyk wrote in the memo about the Germantown resolution. "It does not impose a state-wide solution, but it gives the freedom to local school districts to make the right choice for them to protect their students ... Sometimes the best way to deter bad actors is with the threat of force, and this bill gives that choice to school districts."

Germantown School Board member Bob Soderberg said in August he didn't support the idea until the school shooting in Uvalde.

“What happened in Uvalde was catastrophic,” Soderberg said. “It was a game changer for me.”

But Democrats said the proposal would make school campuses less safe and Evers promised to veto the bill if it ended up on his desk.

"Wisconsinites have been desperately demanding commonsense proposals that will reduce gun violence and keep our kids, our schools, and our communities safe. This bill isn’t among them. This bill shouldn’t make it to my desk — but if it does, I'll veto it. Plain and simple," the former state superintendent tweeted on Monday about the proposal.

"I already vetoed Republicans’ bill to allow loaded guns on school grounds because increasing firearms on school grounds won’t make our schools or our kids safer. So, let me be clear: I’ll veto any bill that weakens Wisconsin’s gun-free school zone law. Period."

"I guess it's becoming harder to find days without mass shootings to introduce bad gun bills," said Rep. Deb Andraca of Whitefish Bay, who holds a concealed carry license and is a former teacher.

"Allowing guns in schools is NOT the answer," she tweeted.

Following the Uvalde shooting, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he was open to measures that would allow teachers to be armed, but Evers said at the time it was unfair to put that responsibility on teachers. He also said the idea of beefing up the numbers of law enforcement or security guards in schools made him uncomfortable and that a plan requiring all districts to hire security officers could require more staff than schools could find.

According to the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau, federal law and state law ban firearms on school grounds but provide some identical exceptions to the prohibition, including for police officers and security officers with a school contract.

Federal law also exempts people licensed to possess a firearm by the state if the state requires a background check to ensure the person is qualified for the license but state law does not include an identical exemption, making it illegal for licensees to carry firearms on school grounds, according to the reference bureau. The bill puts the federal exception into state law.

Quinn Clark of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin GOP seeks to give schools option of concealed carry