LaTonya Johnson
A new bill is moving through state legislature that could establish a mandatory minimum sentence for those with violent histories caught with an unregistered firearm.
Assembly District 17 Representative LaTonya Johnson (D) wants the bill to apply only to those who have been convicted of a list of specified violent crimes.
Under LRB-0477/2, anyone convicted of one or more of the 40 violent felonies in the list and who has been found with an illegal firearm will face an automatic three years in prison.
The sentences only get longer from there. If someone with a violent criminal history is charged with using an unregistered gun to commit another violent crime, they could receive at least another five years added to the original mandatory minimum for a total of eight years.
The bill is a more narrowly written version of a separate bill that failed during the last legislative session.
The earlier bill applied a mandatory minimum to those convicted of any felony, including crimes such as failing to provide child support for more than 120 days.
According to Johnson, the bill would not curb the possession of unregistered guns in Wisconsin.
It would, however, keep violent criminals off the street, where they might repeat the same offenses.
“This bill is not a deterrent,” said Johnson.
The representative has faced considerable backlash from her own side of the aisle.
She admits that it’s not a bill a Democrat would typically sponsor.
“I understand the debate,” Johnson said, noting Wisconsin’s high incarceration rates.
The state ranks 31st out of 50 states, highest to lowest number of incarcerated individuals per 100,000 people.
However, Wisconsin leads the country in imprisonment of African American males.
She argues that high incarceration rates are not the cause of gun violence. Rather, it’s the ability for those with violent histories to re-offend while they are not in prison.
“These are definitely not the individuals that the city should be protecting,” said Johnson.
The bill is a more specified version of a bill that failed during the last legislative session.
The earlier bill applied a mandatory minimum to those convicted of any felony, including crimes such as failing to provide child support for more than 120 days.
According to Johnson, straw buying firearms remains a plague in communities such as Milwaukee, where 54 percent of the state’s violent crimes took place in during the year 2012, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
“We are losing our kids. We are losing our city,” said Johnson.
By May 13, the bill will become available for co-sponsorship.
On May 27, Johnson will attend a gun-violence listening session. The public is encouraged to attend.
The event will take place between 6:00 and 7:30 p.m. at Washington Park Senior Center at 4420 W Vliet St. in Milwaukee.