A last minute attempt by Milwaukee City Council member Scott Spiker to adopt two new gun control ordinances ahead of next week’s Republican National Convention has failed after the city attorney’s office warned that one of the measures would violate the state’s firearm preemption law.
Spiker called on the city council to ban bump stocks before Republicans come to town, along with another measure allowing police to issue $5,000 fines for anyone engaged in disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon. Both measures failed in the Common Council’s meeting on Thursday, though for two very different reasons. While the state’s preemption law was cited by the city attorney’s office, which warned adopting the ordinance would lead to a lawsuit, the attempt to increase the fines for disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon failed after some council members expressed concern that the ordinance would be disproportionately enforced in minority neighborhoods.
Spiker’s other proposal to give police the power to issue a municipal fine up to $5,000 for disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon failed to move forward after a heated debate.
Other council members raised concerns about the broader implications of such an ordinance outside the RNC, and eight voted to hold it in council.
Milwaukee Ald. Mark Chambers Jr., who represents District 2 on Milwaukee’s northwest side, raised concerns that the ordinance would be employed differently across the racially segregated city.
“I really want you to really understand where we’re coming from,” he told Spiker. “It’s not us trying to attack what you’re doing, but the impact on the residents that we represent that could run into … situations is where I have problems with it. That’s it. That’s all, and I think we need more dialogue than right now.”
Spiker had a little more luck with his proposed bump stock ban, which he insisted should be adopted regardless of state statute. During a meeting of the council’s Public Safety and Health Committee earlier on Thursday, the council member managed to convince his fellow committee members to recommend adopting the ban, but failed to persuade a majority of the Common Council to follow suit.
Despite the city attorney’s explanation that the law was not legal and enforceable, the committee recommended the proposed ordinance.
“We should at least pass this to the council, get it kicked back at a later date, unfortunately, and then pass it then and say to the mayor, ‘I thought you like gun control, I thought you want to keep people safe, here’s an ordinance that is trying to do that,'” Spiker said.|
After the ordinance gained the committee’s recommendation, it was returned to the committee at council because of the City Attorney’s Office’s finding.
What a despicable approach to politics. Even though Spiker had already been informed that his ordinance wouldn’t pass legal muster, he was eager to adopt it anyway, if only to pressure the mayor into following suit. What makes Spiker’s performance on Thursday even more egregious is the fact that just a few weeks ago he was among the group of council members who shot down another gun control proposal; one that would have banned concealed carry in the “soft” security zone encompassing several blocks around the RNC.
Ald. Scott Spiker, the committee chair, raised the specter that if the ordinance was upheld, it could invite its own protest. “I’ve had teens, oppositional defiance is a real thing,” he said.
Milwaukee Police Department captain Timothy Gauerke said it is possible that “constitutional carriers” could be motivated to attend.
But he said under any scenario, the city retained its right to arrest people waved the firearm around or pointed it. “If you are indeed waving a firearm around, that would be a violation of state law,” he said. “Having just the gun slung or holstered in and of itself is not a violation of the law.”
Spiker opposed Bauman’s proposal. “It’s clear by the letter of the law that is is illegal, and in general governments shouldn’t do illegal stuff.”
That’s equally true of a bump stock ban, but Spiker was apparently willing to make an exception for his ordinance. Thankfully, a majority of his colleagues on the Common Council followed his earlier advice and decided to stay on the right side of the law. The Second Amendment rights of Milwaukee residents and visitors will be intact during the RNC (at least outside of the “hard” security zone around the convention), even if the right to keep and bear arms is no longer a major focus of the Republican platform.
