Cool.
The law requiring a 48-hour waiting period for handgun purchases in Wisconsin would be eliminated under a bill being circulated by Republican lawmakers.
“This basically is a time tax,” said state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine.
Wanggaard said that the so-called “48-hour rule,” first enacted in Wisconsin in 1976, became law before statutory background checks on handgun purchases. And he added that with current technology, background checks can be conducted in about an hour.
Personally, I don’t find the 48-hour rule to be too much of a hassle. Then again, I also don’t think it has ever prevented a crime. And in the age of almost instant background checks, the waiting period if pretty much worthless.
It does put an extra burden on the businesses selling guns. It means that for every purchase, they have to have two transactions and customer contacts instead of just one. It’s not a huge cost, but an unnecessary one nonetheless.
It will be fun to watch the anti-gun folks freak out over this. The entertainment value is reason enough to repeal it.
Every time some deranged lunatic goes on a shooting rampage in a school or shopping mall, or a child accidentally shoots a parent, sibling, or friend with an unsecured household firearm … NRA-funded legislators who continually oppose handgun, semi-automatic rifle, and/or extended magazine restrictions and regulations should be required to go on national television, pat themselves on the back, and declare “I did that!”