Congress is considering a bill right now that would prohibit the feds from releasing data to local and state law enforcement about where guns used in crimes originated. The bill is a blatant attempt to shield irresponsible gun dealers from any consequences for dirty gun deals, and it's a pet issue for our friends over at the National Rifle Association.
So far, Wisconsin attorney general wannabe J.B. Van Hollen, the NRA's choice for AG, has been publicly silent about his stance on this "crime gun" bill. Still, it's not hard to guess where his sympathies will lie.
Van Hollen is a member of the NRA and a staunch gun advocate. Gun issues come up frequently on his campaign Web site. For example, he mentions that in the four-way primary he was the "only candidate for attorney general to have consistently supported the rights of all trained, licensed citizens to carry a concealed weapon."
He also boasts about his "pledge to put in place ideas and suggestions from local law enforcement."
Well, J.B., here's a little suggestion from local law enforcement professionals: leave the "concealed carry" plank out of your platform.
The last time a bill to allow concealed carry was considered in the Wisconsin Legislature, all sorts of police, sheriffs and prosecutors lined up to oppose the idea. Groups against concealed carry included the Association of State Prosecutors, the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association, and the Wisconsin County Police Association. Cops don't like concealed carry because it puts more guns on the street that can be used against them in moments of crisis or heated emotion. It's that simple.
And so on Van Hollen's website, I noted with amusement this typographical error in a statement about a local violence prevention program: "It involved brining law enforcement together instead of taking a shotgun approach."
For those of you who don't cook, "brining" is preserving food in salt water. Must have been a Freudian typo, because if Van Hollen becomes the state attorney general, cops really will be in a pickle.
Jennifer Morales is a two-term member of the Milwaukee School Board, representing the East Side and South Side. She ran for state senate in 2004.
Jennifer Morales is an elected member of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors, the first person of Latino descent to hold that position. She was first elected in 2001 and was unopposed for re-election in 2005. In 2004, she ran for a seat in the Wisconsin state senate, earning 43% of the vote against a 12-year incumbent.
Previously, she served as the editorial assistant at the educational journal Rethinking Schools; as assistant director of two education policy research centers at UW-Milwaukee; and as the development director for 9to5, National Association of Working Women.
She became the first person in her immediate family to graduate from college, earning a B.A. in Modern Languages and Literatures from Beloit College in 1991.
In addition to her work on the school board, she is a freelance editorial consultant and a mother.
