The fight over concealed weapons is far from over, as Republicans and Democrats clashed Tuesday over the slowly progressing bill, eventually deciding to exempt buildings on campuses of public and private colleges and universities from the legislation.
Technical colleges are also included in the exemption, as are portions of buildings simply used by schools for institutional purposes.
The bill, making it legal for approved citizens to carry concealed weapons, is now in the amendment stage.
An earlier amendment to exempt entire school campuses from the bill was struck down by the Joint Committee on Finance.
\Basically if someone has a permit to carry and they are going to class and driving to campus, they can keep [their weapon] in their vehicle. They just can't take it into any of the buildings,"" said state Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls.
UW System President Katharine Lyall sent a letter to the co-chairs of the committee Monday, asking for Wisconsin's universities and public and private colleges to be excluded from the bill.
Lyall spokesperson Erik Christianson expressed disapointment of the committee's decision to not include entire campuses within the ban, but was still content to get something.
""This other amendment [to ban in campus buildings] while not going as far as we would have preferred, would still be an improvement,"" he said.
Under the current bill, concealed weapons would also not be allowed in any type of sporting event.
Sen. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, presented a list of 60 amendments to the committee, dragging the meeting long into the night.
Many of the amendments exempt specific places such as churches, hospitals, homeless shelters and daycare centers from the bill and garnered mixed reactions from the committee.
Some legislators expressed concern that people would not be able to protect themselves in all areas.
""We don't want to create islands for criminals,"" said Rep. Michael Huebsch, R-West Salem.
Nearly all votes went directly down the party line. Republicans outnumber Democrats twelve to four on the committee.
Moore denounced the legislation, comparing it to a hog and referring to the old joke that you can put as much lipstick on a pig as you want, but it is still a pig.
""I'm trying to put a little lipstick on this hog,"" she said.
