Waukesha Council Allows Concealed Carry in City Buildings

The Waukesha Common Council voted 10 to 5 Tuesday night to allow weapons in buildings despite the majority of employees showing they were against weapons in their workplace via a survey conducted by the Board of Public Works.

The weapons are still prohibited from the Waukesha Police Department with the exception of police officers. Weapons would also not be allowed during Municipal Court. City staff members are currently not allowed to have weapons on themselves at work, according to city policy.

To ban weapons from municipal buildings, the city would have to post signs at all entrances. But that could increase liability on the city if an incident were to happen and the city denied permit holders from carrying weapons in the building.

“It doesn’t stop the bad people from coming in here with weapons,” Police Chief Russell Jack said. “It stops the good people from coming in here with weapons.”

Aldermen Terry Thieme, John Kalblinger, Vance Skinner, Roger Patton and Duane Paulson voted against allowing weapons in city buildings. Common Council members Paul Ybarra, Eric Payne, Chris Hernandez, Joe Pieper, Brian White, Kathleen Cummings, Steve Johnson, Rick Hastings, Andy Reiland and Joan Francoeur voted in favor of allowing weapons in city buildings.

“The citizens of Wisconsin and of Waukesha have the right to protect themselves,” Hastings said. “That is really what we are talking about here. Who are we thinking we are taking the gun away from?”

There was some dialogue about what a ban of weapons would truly look like. To keep weapons out of the buildings, the city would have to hire additional employees to run metal detectors at the entrances of the buildings to scan for the weapons.

“We are just making a rule that we can’t enforce,” said Cummings about a possible ban.

Ybarra had brought forward the original referral to look in city buildings. He agreed to allow them in the buildings after reviewing the research. Ybarra said he plans to apply for a concealed carry permit and supports the new state law.

A sign at city entrances “is not necessarily going to stop a bad person from bringing a weapon in,” Ybarra said.

Patton brought concerns about emotionally charged situations during city meetings and fears that the city would become liable in the case of a “shootout.”

“Here in the City Hall, we don’t need guns,” Patton said.

“There have been aggressive confrontations in this room with people in the audience when they disagree with something that is said by someone else,” Paulson said.

Skinner said he did not agree with the concealed carry that passed at the state level. But for him, it was the employee survey that caused him to vote against allowing weapons in municipal buildings.

“That was more or less the deciding factor for me,” Skinner said.