BELLEVUE, WA – This week’s report in TIME magazine offering reasons for the sharp rise in violent crime in Milwaukee, Wisconsin overlooks one significant factor, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
“Twice in the past three years,†said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron, “anti-gun Democrat Gov. Jim Doyle has vetoed the single piece of legislation that would put victims on equal footing with criminals, and instead he has left citizens at their mercy. Doyle’s callous disregard for the self-defense rights of the citizens who put him in office puts their blood on his hands.
“Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who opposed concealed carry legislation, is also guilty of putting his own politics ahead of the safety of his constituents,†Waldron continued. “Instead of supporting legislation that would have allowed law-abiding citizens to fight crime by fighting back, he’s been rubbing elbows with New York’s Michael Bloomberg, who won’t be happy until he has disarmed every average citizen in the country.
“Isn’t it ironic,†Waldron mused, “that Doyle, Barrett and other anti-gun rights elitists beat the drums of hysteria about how there would be an increase in violence if law-abiding citizens were allowed to carry concealed handguns. They bitterly opposed concealed carry legislation, Doyle vetoed it on the premise that he did not want violence to increase and yet violent crime is rising.
“The truth is that Doyle’s anti-gun philosophy has disarmed the wrong people,†Waldron explained. “Instead of enabling citizens to defend themselves, he has perpetuated a low-risk working environment for predatory violent criminals and the Milwaukee murder rate proves it.
“Police ranks are down because so many of our police are now serving in reserve military units overseas, and this comes at a time when prisons are releasing thousands of hardened criminals back out on the streets,†Waldron added. “Situations like this are what the Second Amendment is really about. When police departments lack the manpower to protect the public, then the people must be able to protect themselves.
“Every homicide victim in Milwaukee and the rest of Wisconsin is a human sacrifice on Doyle’s altar of political correctness,†Waldron concluded.