Mothers of shooting victims push to regulate unlicensed gun sales

One of the mothers, Debra Fifer, is being backed by Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee. Coggs said he plans to introduce such a bill in the state Legislature and is looking for a co-sponsor.

The law would require county residents to register their guns and report gun sales between individuals with the state Department of Justice.

Fifer said the law would hold responsible whoever sold the gun to Jaki Marion, the man who shot and killed her son, Kirk Bickham Jr., and two other men outside a Milwaukee bar in 2003.

Marion was convicted and ordered to serve three life sentences. He told authorities he bought the gun off someone on the street.

Unlike licensed gun dealers, private citizens who sell guns are not required to report sales to the state and avoid otherwise routine background checks, said John Chisholm, a Milwaukee County assistant district attorney who oversees firearms enforcement.

Fifer said she at first wanted the law to apply statewide but said that might not be a realistic political goal considering pro-gun sentiment in rural Wisconsin. She's pushing similar legislation in the city and county of Milwaukee.

"I know they (rural residents) see things a lot differently, and they're not seeing the same things we're seeing in Milwaukee," Fifer said.

Fifer is also fighting a bill working its way through the Legislature that would largely ban injury and death lawsuits against gun manufacturers, dealers and importers and others.

That bill is working its way through the legislative process.

State Rep. Mark Pettis, R-Hertel, who introduced the bill, said it's necessary to prevent frivolous lawsuits that could put dealers and small gun manufacturers out of business.

The bill would also protect hunting clubs and shooting range owners from liability.

Gun control advocates have turned to lawsuits in the courts because they have failed to undermine gun owner rights through legislation, Pettis said.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee is expected to approve Pettis' proposal in coming weeks, which would move the bill onto the full Assembly, said committee chairman Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin.

The bill was not drafted to protect unlicensed gun dealers, and it wouldn't cover people involved in illegal sales and activity, Gundrum said.

Fifer said she supports gun owner rights. But she wants dealers and manufacturers held responsible when those weapons fall into the hands of children or others, such as convicted felons, who have no legal right to possess them.