Police officials call for tougher background checks for guns

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Wisconsin police leaders are calling for more extensive background checks on gun buyers.

The push comes in the wake of a rash of recent gunfire in the Madison area and reports of a national increase last year in the number of police officers killed by firearms in the line of duty.

The Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association and the National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence met Monday and Tuesday with Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidates to promote federal legislation requiring background checks for people who buy guns in private sales. The meetings were closed to the press and the groups would not disclose the results of the conversations.

Right now, only federally licensed gun dealers require criminal background checks – a change enacted in 1993 under the federal Brady Law.

A U.S. Department of Justice publication estimated that the legislation stopped about 1.9 million illegal firearm sales between 1994 and 2009.

But police, speaking at a press conference in Madison on Tuesday, said 40 percent of legal firearm purchases in this country occur during private sales, to which the Brady Law does not apply.

That loophole, they said, enables convicted felons, people under domestic violence restraining orders, drug addicts and others to buy guns illegally.

“As long as private sales remain unregulated, we’re allowing criminals and drug dealers and those battling mental illness to follow an honor system,” said University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Chief Susan Riseling. “How many of us really believe a felon will follow the law in purchasing a handgun?”

Asked if such people wouldn’t just buy guns on the black market, Riseling said lawmakers should start with “this low-hanging fruit” – that is, requiring background checks on legal, private gun sales.

Riseling and colleagues also cited increases in firearm incidents both in Wisconsin and nationally.

Between March 1 and mid-May, Madison police received 80 calls reporting shots fired, according to the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association. A number of those incidents included casualties: In mid-May, gunmen fired into a crowd in Madison on University Avenue near State Street, wounding three people.

Firearms were also No. 1 cause of death for U.S. police officers last year – a first in 14 years, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.