Wisconsin Senate passes ‘Second Amendment sanctuary’ bill

The Wisconsin Senate on Wednesday passed a bill aimed at exempting the state from federal gun laws.

The state Senate passed Assembly Bill 293 by voice vote, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Supporters of the legislation say it would make the state a “Second Amendment sanctuary.”

Under the bill, a firearm that is owned in the state of Wisconsin and does not leave the state would not be subject to federal regulation, according to its text.

The measure also prohibits a person from “enforcing a federal act, law, statute, rule, regulation, treaty, or order” that bans semi-automatic weapons, requires registration of firearms, regulates capacity of magazines or requires confiscation of a firearm.

The legislation also prohibits state agencies and local governments from using resources to confiscate firearms that are lawfully possessed in the state.

The state Assembly passed the bill on June 9, according to records on the state legislature’s website.

The bill now heads to Gov. Tony Evers’s (D) desk. But as the Journal Sentinel notes, Evers has pushed for more oversight of guns, as opposed to less.

The bill’s passage came the same day that President Biden outlined efforts to combat crime, with a focus on addressing gun violence.

The president has repeatedly called for Congress to pass gun reform in the wake of several high-profile mass shootings and has previously unveiled legislation aimed at the issue.

According to a report from The Associated Press, “Second Amendment sanctuaries” took off in 2018, when states were considering gun laws in the following the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead.

About 1,200 local governments across the U.S. have enacted such resolutions, according to AP. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) has signed a proposal into law.