School shooting renews debate over Wisconsin gun laws

Following a mass school shooting Monday, December 16, 2024 that killed a teacher and a student in Madison, WI, state and federal lawmakers were at odds over whether the incident should cause officials to revisit existing gun laws.

Police in Madison said a 15-year-old female student killed a teacher and a student at Abundant Life Christian School. She wounded six other students and a teacher before fatally shooting herself. Two of the injured students remained in critical condition Tuesday, according to Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes.

In Washington D.C., Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat whose district includes Madison, led a moment of silence on the House floor. Shortly before going to the floor, Pocan spoke with CBS 58. He maintained the tragedy should reignite a push to enact new gun restrictions.

“This is an epidemic of gun violence. Clearly, no other country has this,” Pocan said. “No other country has more guns than citizens and the mass shootings we have, the school shootings we have.”

Pocan said he specifically wanted to see new state and federal laws requiring background checks on the private sale of guns. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers tried to get the Legislature to vote on such a measure in 2019 when he ordered a special session, but Republicans in control of both the Assembly and Senate gaveled out of the session without taking a vote.

State Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said Republicans would not pursue such restrictions when the Legislature reconvenes next month.

Authorities have yet to publicly state how the shooter, identified as Natalie Rupnow, obtained the gun she used. LeMahieu noted current laws already prohibit someone’s Rupnow’s age from owning a firearm.

“She shouldn’t have been allowed to actually have a gun, to own a handgun. She’s 15,” LeMahieu said. “But it speaks to the importance of addressing. I mean, I don’t know what she was going through and all the situations around it, but chances are it was mental health.”

LeMahieu added he would support Republicans granting Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul’s request for $2.3 million in the next two-year state budget to fully fund the state Department of Justice’s Office of School Safety. The agency said the funding is necessary as federal pandemic aid that had been supplementing the school safety office expires.

LeMahieu said he was not supportive of a state law requiring school resource officers at all public and private schools. He added he supported the idea of school officers in “larger schools.”

“I don’t know if [a school officer] would’ve made a difference here,” LeMahieu said. “We don’t know all the facts yet. I think especially in larger schools with multiple entrances and things like that, I think they are beneficial.”

Pocan maintained the primary focus should be on guns. When a reporter noted Rupnow was already prohibited from owning a gun because of her age, Pocan said there were more facts we need to learn about Monday’s Madison shooting. He added the broader trend of American mass shootings and school shootings made clear the country has to rethink the way it views and legislates guns.

“Whether it’s laws, whether it’s attitudes, but we don’t even do that,” Pocan said. “Instead, we’ll wait until the next district has another shooting and more kids and more people are killed, and that’s totally unacceptable.”