Honorable Hearing Members,
Just seven short days ago, I marked the third anniversary of the passing of a co-worker and great friend, Davey Evans. Davey, who immigrated from England over thirty years ago as a professional racing mechanic, was an intelligent, humorous, kind, good-natured, gentle man
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Evans, 63 years old, was killed by an assailant who ruthlessly attacked him, beat him to the ground, and then continued the attack with steel-toed boots before escaping into the night. Davey died that night at the hospital. His attacker was younger, bigger, stronger, and had no qualms about picking out and attacking someone who couldn’t defend themselves against his greater physical advantages. The law of the jungle triumphant over the law of society.
If Davey had been able to defend himself against this disparity in force he might be alive today. We desperately need to be able to level the playing field to prevent or defend against attacks of this nature.
It’s a sad fact that in today’s world anybody can suffer this kind of attack at any time and in any place. Women, the elderly, our disabled citizens and anybody small of stature or outnumbered have no way to respond to such a situation. In Wisconsin from 1998, when Article 1 Section 25 of our state constitution, The Right to Keep and Bear Arms, was ratified by 79% of the voters, until the end of 2009 there were 162,471 violent crimes reported to the FBI. That statistic speaks for itself; there IS the potential for dangerous and violent encounters in Wisconsin.
We need to pass Concealed Carry legislation in Wisconsin NOW, to help stem the tide of these acts of violence. Any number of reputable studies have shown that the passage of such a law in other states has always been accompanied by a reduction in violent crime, particularly rape and aggravated assault. The next victim could be you or I or one of our loved ones; let’s not allow that to happen.
I am not in favor of mandatory classes, training, or permits to exercise my God-given RIGHT to self-defense; but if we must have a background check and an ID for reciprocity, let’s simply develop a sticker for our driver’s license, much like the organ donor notification. This would save millions in taxpayer dollars and would not involve expanding our bureaucracy.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in our great government.
