An editorial  —  7/29/2009 5:14 am

Wisconsin mayors from every corner of the state, and from every place on the ideological spectrum -- Madison's Dave Cieslewicz, Milwaukee's Tom Barrett, Waukesha's Larry Nelson, Green Bay's James Schmitt, Stevens Point's Andrew Halverson and Superior's Dave Ross -- are members of the national group Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

The mayors' organization led the fight against the so-called Thune Amendment, a controversial proposal sponsored by South Dakota Sen. John Thune to allow individuals to travel from state to state with handguns concealed, making it so that police officers, family members and others could be unaware that they were in the presence of someone armed with a lethal weapon.

The amendment was narrowly blocked by the Senate, and the mayors played a critical role in the fight to maintain local and state rules that protect responsible gun owners while protecting public safety. They did so by recognizing that it is neither appropriate nor useful to take an aggressively anti-gun stance in a country that protects the right to bear arms.

Any decision on gun regulation is a close call. It must be practical, rather than ideological. And it must respect the fact that law-abiding citizens have every right to own guns but that a civil society has a right to ask for reasonable restraints on how and where those guns are transported.

Critics of the Thune Amendment addressed the Republican senator's proposal on two fronts. Broadly, they detailed the concerns of law enforcement authorities with regard to those frightened and insecure individuals who feel a need to carry concealed weapons.

According to a new two-year (2007-2009) study released by the Violence Policy Center:

• "Concealed handgun permit holders have slain seven law enforcement officers, resulting in criminal charges or the suicide of the shooter. All of the killings were committed with guns. An additional three law enforcement officers were injured in these incidents.

• "Concealed handgun permit holders have slain at least 44 private citizens, resulting in criminal charges or the suicide of the shooter. All but one of the killings were committed with guns. An additional six private citizens were injured in these incidents.

• "In six of the 31 incidents (19 percent), the concealed handgun permit holder killed himself, bringing the total fatality count to 57."

As Violence Policy Center legislative director Kristen Rand explained, "State concealed handgun systems are arming cop-killers and other murderers. It is beyond irrational for Congress to vote to expand the reach of these deadly laws."
That was a credible argument.

But the message from the mayors was a subtler one.

They argued, in the words of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, "The vast majority of states have set minimum requirements for obtaining a permit to carry a concealed gun, and Congress should respect those laws instead of trying to usurp them."

In effect, the mayors made a federalist case, focusing on the notion that the Constitution clearly gives states (and cities within them) flexibility to establish rules and regulations that respond to the distinct nature and needs of particular communities. It is a faith in federalism that allows the United States to function as a national entity with many distinct regional and local approaches to governing.

The right to bear arms is well-established. But so too is the authority of government to regulate the transportation of weapons across municipal and state lines. When these two prerogatives come into conflict, we begin to see the lines of division in what never has been a completely United States.

Particularly when it comes to gun debates, perspectives in Chicago are radically different from those in South Dakota, just as there are real differences in approach between Milwaukeeans and rural Wisconsinites.

With regard to the Thune Amendment, the mayors were wise to emphasize the value of local laws, as well as the danger of having the heavy hand of the national government usurp them.

Ultimately, that argument prevailed with enough senators, including many who have long records of supporting Second Amendment rights.

The argument did not prevail easily, however. The Thune Amendment was blocked because it did not have the 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster. Only 58 votes were cast in its favor, while 39 senators opposed the measure.

Wisconsin's senators split on the issue, with Herb Kohl taking the side of Wisconsin's mayors and Russ Feingold backing Thune's proposal.

Kohl's vote seems to us to have been the proper one.

But Feingold gets something of a pass on this vote because he is a strict constructionist with regard to the Constitution. The Middleton Democrat's narrow reading of the Constitution has underpinned his courageous opposition to undeclared war-making, assaults on the right to privacy, and executive branch secrecy. Feingold cast a vote that was very much in keeping with his broader views regarding the Bill of Rights.

Because of the complexity of the gun debate, and because reasonable people can disagree on these issues, we are particularly enthusiastic about the role that the mayors have played -- and that, we hope, they will continue to play.

Practical arguments rooted in an understanding both of a right to bear arms and of an authority accorded cities and states to protect public safety dial down the emotion and invite reasonable Americans to sort things out.

By bringing such arguments to the debate about the Thune Amendment, Mayor Cieslewicz, Mayor Barrett and their Democratic, Republican and independent allies around Wisconsin and across the nation made a vital contribution to a volatile debate that is far from finished.