A new bill introduced in the Wisconsin State Assembly Tuesday could impose mandatory minimum sentences for violent felons caught in possession of a firearm.
State Reps. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, and LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, presented the bill as a solution for what they believed to be rising gun violence across the state in a press release.
The minimum mandatory sentencing bill is one of several recently proposed firearm reform bills, another of which would allow retired police officers to carry firearms on school grounds.
“I strongly support the rights of lawful citizens to carry firearms,” Kleefisch said in the statement. “However the recent wave of gun violence reinforces the need to sentence and keep violent felons in prison so the revolving door of justice does not send them right back onto the streets.”
The two representatives did not disclose the length of the mandatory minimum sentence in the press release, but Kleefisch claimed it would have “a massive deterrent effect” and “keep violent criminals behind bars longer and keep our communities safer.”
Johnson said she hoped the bill would decrease violent crime in Milwaukee.
“Gun violence not only takes innocent lives, it erodes our quality of life and starves our communities of opportunities for economic investment and revitalization,” Johnson said in the release.
