I have the gut feeling that some legislators are backing bills SB90 and AB126 because they see an opportunity to gain some revenue for the State. Facts prove otherwise. We can use Minnesota as an example. Minnesota has a five year track record and I presume that the number of permits is pretty stable. There is no reason to believe that the numbers would be significantly different in Wisconsin. The population of the two states are nearly identical with an equal number of large cities. The population of Minnesota in 2010 was 5,000,000. Wisconsin's population was 5,500,000. In 2009 (the last year I can find figures for) there were 63000 active permits to carry in Minnesota. For the sake of my calculations I will inflate that to 70,000 to allow for population growth and new permits over the past year and half. Using that number the following is the realistic revenue picture of the two "shall issue" bills.
Permit cost $52 Permit Fee + $13 Background check = $65
First year cost of AB126 from the fiscal study. $2,108,164
Annual cost of year 2 through year 5 $1,088,780
Total 5 year cost (Permit is good for five years). $6,463,287
Estimated number of Permits issued 70,000 X $65ea. = $4,550,000 Total possible revenue.
Instead of gaining revenue the State loses $1,913,287 over five years.
Granted my number of 70,000 could be off a couple of thousand. To break even the State will have to issue 99,435 permits. If the number of permit holders in nearby states is any measure I don't think that number is going to happen.
SB90 and AB126 will become just another tax burden instead of new revenue.
My opinions
http://www.gocra-mn.org/news/2011/02/how-many-minnesota-carry-permits-get-revoked/