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Wisconsin State Republican Rep. Bob Gannon (courtesy rightwingnews.com)

First, here’s the press release by Wisconsin State Republican Rep. Bob Gannon [above] responding to a shooting at the East Town Mall in Madison, WI. [Democratic Rep. Chris Taylor’s dueling press release follows.]

Hole Shot into Gun Free Zone Theory

The shooting this weekend at the East Town Mall in Madison makes clear that the leftist theory that a gun symbol inside of a circle with a line through it does not make the citizens of this state safer. It is evident that the criminal whom shot off his pistol at the mall either couldn’t read the gun ban sign or he didn’t comprehend the universal symbol that is now referred to as a “target rich environment”? Personally . . .

I’ve never been in East Town Mall, as I refuse to spend my money at any business that believes my second amendment rights have to be left in my car. I’ve been unable to get a safe and secure feeling with the extra mall security that is now in place, yes, those individuals carrying nothing more lethal than a flashlight and maps explaining how to get to the coffee shop. I’m sure these employees are there to help clean up the mess, as an unprotected shopper gets caught in the criminal cross fire.

Currently our university students are as unprotected as the shoppers at this mall. Unfortunately, these students don’t have the option of studying at a different state college, as I have the option of shopping at other retailers, as all state universities have implemented the “target rich environment” theory.

Wisconsin AB 363 is in process in the state legislature at this time, and needs to get passed quickly so that students have a fighting chance if a criminal element picks their campus as the location of their next shootout. This bill allows students, faculty, and visitors, the same rights of self-protection as are enjoyed by state residents throughout this fine land.

Wisconsin does not have a death penalty law, but with significant practice and careful aim, law abiding citizens can help clean our society of these scum bags. Criminals no longer have any fear of our courts or our prisons, so it’s time that the citizens of this fine state stand up and fight back. A gang banger in the mall with a gun is going to think twice if there could be a law abiding CCW holder standing behind them fully prepared to shoot center mass, as this is how you’re trained to eliminate the threat these creeps pose to you, your family, and all law abiding citizens unwillingly dragged into their public crime spree.

———

Democrat Rep. Chris Taylor’s press release:

Rep. Gannon calls for a vigilante uprising

MADISON – Today, Representative Bob Gannon released a statement saying, “Wisconsin does not have a death penalty law, but with significant practice and careful aim, law abiding citizens can help clean our society of these scum bags.” Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) released the following statement:

“I am appalled by the dangerous rhetoric Representative Gannon chose to use in his press release. The incident at East Towne Mall was scary, but the answer is not to add more people with guns to the mix, and certainly not to call for private citizens to ‘shoot center mass.’ Representative Gannon is living in a James Bond dream world. If more guns made us safer, we would be the safest country in the world. We should be making guns like the one used at East Towne Mall more difficult to obtain for those who abuse the law.

“Representative Gannon can keep repeating the same Fox talking points, but they are not grounded in fact. A recent Stanford study shows that right to carry laws are associated with significant increases in violent crime. The United States has a higher firearm homicide rate than any other developed country because of its broken gun safety laws.

“Representative Gannon should recognize that it is possible to keep our communities safe while respecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners. The public overwhelmingly supports common- sense gun safety laws, like universal background checks and a ban on military-style assault weapons. As United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia so aptly noted in his majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, ‘[i]t is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.’

“Representative Gannon also makes a dangerous and misguided call for guns to be available on our college campuses. Our campus administrators, law enforcement, faculty, and students don’t want weapons on campus, as campuses are generally safe places for students to learn. I for one am glad that Representative Gannon doesn’t shop at retailers where he can’t bring his gun – I think we’re all a little bit safer because of it.”

[h/t KL]

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63 COMMENTS

    • Also:
      the leftist theory that a gun symbol inside of a circle with a line through it does not make the citizens of this state safer (emphasis mine)
      I though the leftist theory was that the symbol does make people safer, and that the right-wingers and libertarians were the ones saying it doesn’t.

      Proofreading is overrated, I suppose.

        • Well, no, it isn’t. “…proves the leftist theory that a picture of a gun with a circle thru it does not make us safer” indicates that “the leftist theory that [a gun-free sign] does not make us safer” has been proven. The “leftist theory” is indeed that gun free signs do make us safer. It is an incredibly sloppily-written sentence, which was probably changed in mid-course and never got cleaned up.

    • If that sign is posted at East Towne Mall then anybody who feels adversely affected by the shooting can sue the mall for not providing proper security. I hope someone does.

      Valley View Mall In La Crosse doesn’t have the “no Beretta” sign so you are free to carry until they ask you to leave upon detection.

      • Yes. Not well known but it’s a part of Wisconsin’s concealed carry law- a business that posts “no weapons” signs loses their immunity for certain types of liability.

        • Not just any no weapons sign but the one in the link. A no weapons policy stated in the traditional code of conduct signage doesn’t count.

    • Yeah, the local theater seems to have it out for S&W Model 10 revolvers and kitchen knives. I don’t carry either so I’m OK.

  1. The public is most decidedly NOT for a ban on semi auto rifles, even those with with deadly bayonet lugs and shoulder things that go up. Now, those bullet buttons that make the gun full-auto…those probably have to go!

    • Good question! Would you like to be able to have a full auto, but it would have to have a non-detachable Mag (aka bullet button)?

  2. It is evident that the criminal whom shot off his pistol at the mall either couldn’t read the gun ban sign or he didn’t comprehend the universal symbol that is now referred to as a “target rich environment”?

    ————————-

    I think it’s evident that those who illegally carry firearms will carry them everywhere they think they can get away with it.

  3. As much as I appreciate this guy’s message, he has to know releasing a statement that basically says ‘shoot to kill’ is making it way too easy for the other side to distract people from the point.

  4. ““Representative Gannon should recognize that it is possible to keep our communities safe while respecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners…”

    No, it isn’t.

    I don’t think it’s possible to keep communities “safe” even while NOT respecting rights, but that’s another story.

    • Yep. As I read this, I couldn’t help thinking about the Boko Haram raid on the Nigerian girl’s school. Of course that’s an extreme example but it’s also a direct extension of spree killers’ attraction to gun-free zones. In both cases the outcomes might very well have been different if the victim’s had the right to be armed. Really, gun-rights are about having the ability to defend oneself. It’s about having a fighting chance as opposed to having no chance. Faced with the reality of Boko Haram attacks, I doubt there are many Nigerians who think gun-free zones are a good idea.

  5. “makes clear that the leftist theory that a gun symbol inside of a circle with a line through it does not make the citizens of this state safer.”

    I think you meant that the leftist theory *is* that a gun symbol inside of a circle with a line through it makes the citizens of this state safer, and was discredited by the shooting. The phrasing as is doesn’t say what it’s said to say.

  6. >>Rep. Gannon calls for a vigilante uprising

    Looks like Chris Taylor doesn’t own a dictionary to look up what “vigilante” means.

    From Webster:

    >>Simple Definition of vigilante
    >>: a person who is not a police officer but who tries to catch and punish criminals

    We’re talking about stopping a crime in progress, not ex-post facto punishment. But the left just loves to redefine words.

    O2

  7. I had to laugh at the Beretta 92 comment. Any time I see one of those “gunbuster” signs like that I breathe a sigh of relief as I am usually carrying a Glock or Taurus (not a P92), and therefore walk on in. No force of law in those signs, but I try to respect the picture 🙂

    • My favorite rib joint has a “Gunbusters” sign with a Deagle slashed out. The place IS kinda “Hood Adjacent” so one might assume it is aimed (pun intended) at gangbangers. Point being, I walk right by it since I don’t carry a Deagle… yet.

  8. The Rep. would have done a greater public service if he had mentioned some other malls or large retailers in the Madison area that don’t require their shoppers to become defenseless victims.

  9. I will be writing Rep Chris Taylor and asking him what study he is citing. If he actually has it I will ask for a copy. Anybody think it will be in my mailbox anytime soon?

    • I’m sure he’ll thank you for your support in his fight against the plague of declining gun violence infecting America. Place your bets on whether he’ll acknowledge the decline.

      • You forgot to mention that he’ll invite you to send money. These computerized message handlers give the same message to everyone, which is how I am still counted as a Dem and invited to contribute to Osama from time to time, since I once sent (I think it was 2008) a really, really nasty note to the Ahole-in-chief pointing out how screwed up he was and why, receiving in return his personal thanks for my support and an invitation to send money. These jerks DO NOT READ anything you send them, and I mean all of them, not just Dems.

    • All the Stanford studies are nothing but bullshit made up to make whatever point they want. Institution of “higher learning” indeed. The last one I read had a confidence level of like 10% and if memory serves Nick Leghorn fully dissected it quickly showing what a crock it is.

      Statistics is nothing but lying with numbers.

      • “Statistics is nothing but lying with numbers.”

        Not true. Statistics are just numbers. They are nothing more than quantities computed from a given set of data.

        Just like we say that a gun is just the tool, and whether a person does good or evil with it is on the person, the same should be said of statistics. Stats are just numbers…no feeling, no purpose, no goal. No agency. In themselves, not truth or lie.

        But, a person can lie with statistics…or try to. Usually, it’s obvious this is happening precisely because the numbers themselves do NOT lie. They are what they are, and gross misinterpretations are usually easy to spot.

        To get away with lying using statistics, the liar must assume the listener is incompetent at math (specifically, statistics). And, with that basic premise, we now ask “Why do you suppose math education is such a woeful joke in the US?” Could the answer be, at least partly, so that the “educated” (but not really) population can be lied to and manipulated using math?

        Math is a weapon. Alone, it is neither good nor bad. It is the person wielding it that does good or bad with it.

  10. “A recent Stanford study shows that right to carry laws are associated with significant increases in violent crime.”

    ???

    I’m just gonna say whatever the hell I want to, attach a college study to it, and claim FACTS!

    • That’s why the CDC can’t conduct “gun research”, because they were caught claiming results that were actually contrary to the findings in the very studies they were citing. But the left would tell you it’s because of the NRA. When you’re not taking millions of dollars of government money there are no repercussions for saying anything you want.

      In terms of sentence structure, statistics are like nouns, the context fills in the rest so you can make “studies” say anything you want, not to mention you can rig the data any way you want by changing variables and find anything correlated to anything. Most people don’t understand the difference between correlation and causation.

      I lost count of how many times my friend ignores no weapons signs every day. No metal detectors, no cops conducting checkpoint-like stops, no problem.

  11. Rep. Chris Taylor pussyfooted around the solution.

    Rep. Gannon has a sure fire solution. Armed citizens defending themselves with lethal force in the hope that they can offset the useless justice system which flips prisoners right back out in the streets where they can continue to make victims of others.

    Rep. Chris Taylor’s solution? Make firearms more difficult and costly for everyone. Maintain malls gun free zones (which obviously didn’t work) Criminals will still be avoiding background checks while purchasing their stolen firearms from other criminals and mall shoppers will still be defenseless and relying on the state for protection (which is no protection at all). So more of the same failed policies that are currently implemented. Also! Saving your own life in a self defensive situation is not vigilantism you marxist dbag.

  12. Our campus administrators, law enforcement, faculty, and students don’t want weapons on campus, as campuses are generally safe places for students to learn.
    Yeah, that’s why on IUPUI. we get all sorts of phone alerts of criminals with guns running around their gun free campus. We have had 4 alerts in one day. A lady was killed in their gun free zone as well.

  13. “The public overwhelmingly supports common- sense gun safety laws, like universal background checks and a ban on military-style assault weapons. ” …??? Another legislator without a single clue about anything to do with a firearm. How do these people get elected?

    • Another legislator without a single clue …

      You mean like U.S. Representative Hank Johnson who actually thought the island of Guam might capsize into the Pacific Ocean if the U.S. Navy built a base on the island?

      • The constituents who vote people like this need to be shamed in a campaign that shows the ignorance of the those “representing” them. Across all the US. Both R’s & D’s should be held to a higher standard than just shouting louder and making more ignorant remarks.

  14. The United States has a higher firearm homicide rate than any other developed country because of its broken gun safety laws.

    Not true unless you claim that countries like Brazil are not “developed”.

    At any rate, the murder rate in the United States — even when you REMOVE murders where the criminal used a firearm for the murder weapon — is still higher than many/most “developed” countries.

  15. If more guns made us safer, we would be the safest country in the world.

    With respect to a foreign military or even our own military performing a domestic ground invasion, YES WE ARE THE SAFEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

    The deer hunters (with “high-powered sniper rifles”) in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are by far and away the largest “army” in the world. Now add all the rest of the hunters and precision shooting devotees in the rest of the nation to the list and no one in their right mind, or even a deranged mind, is going to attempt to invade the U.S. So, yes, the United States is the safest country in the world.

  16. “If more guns made us safer, we would be the safest country in the world.”

    We are pretty close, once you subtract liberal-run cities.

  17. “… If more guns made us safer, we would be the safest country in the world. ”

    The people who make those kinds of decisions in my city recently approved an purchase order to get more guns. The reason given for the order was to make my little City safer.

    “…We should be making guns like the one used at East Towne Mall more difficult to obtain for those who abuse the law.”

    Because that methodology has been so incredibly successful for illicit drugs. Obviously you just need to do more of it to be successful with firearms.

  18. Gannon: “Hole Shot into Gun Free Zone Theory”

    Taylor: “Rep. Gannon calls for a vigilante uprising”

    And Taylor is the one with “common sense”, right?

    Wisconsin winter must be terrible with all those slippery slopes.

  19. “I refuse to spend my money at any business that believes my second amendment rights have to be left in my car.”

    What does his Second Amendment rights, which are Constitutional rights defining the liberty of an Individual relative to the armed, legally coercive power of the State, have anything whatsoever to do with mutual agreements between private parties, neither of whom has the power to compel the other to agree?

    If I’m a guest in your home and I’m shooting my mouth off in whatever manner you find offensive, then you have the right to expel me from your home. It’s your private property, after all. My First Amendment rights have no bearing. Same with the mall. Don’t like their rules? Then don’t visit, but that’s a private matter between two private parties and 2A has nothing to do with it.

  20. Just a topical Democrat response. Attack on Fox news, cites a Stanford research that is liberal leaning, campuses are safe places???, says majority of Americans want more gun laws (untrue), establishments with gun buster signs are safe places???, etc., etc. etc.

  21. The idea that ccw increases violent crime is bullshit. Almost every state that has started issuing ccw livenses has had murders, rapes, and armed robberies go down.

    Murder has dropped more than half in the last 20 years, as more and more states have allowed ccw. These mass shootings always happen in gun free zones, and ccw holders have lower crime rates than cops!

  22. Most Democrats and gun control proponents on the subject are like that scene from “A Few Good Men:”

    Gun Rights Person: “You want answers?”

    Gun Controller: “I want the truth!”

    Gun Rights Person: “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!”

  23. I don’t understand, if its a gun-free zone, that means there are no guns right? How can there be a shooting in a place where there are no guns? Wait, is their a mall in Wisconsin and that is giving away free guns?

  24. “Democrat Rep. Chris Taylor’s press release:”

    That’s good. Really Good! Ol Chris is in the wrong grift. He has an outstanding talent for standup comedy! I don’t think that even SNL would be too far a stretch for someone so talented.

    Chrissy Boy, the big bucks are within your grasp! 🙂

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