Madison anarchy too hot for handgun hotline

Empower Wisconsin | June 25, 2020

By M.D. Kittle

MADISON — This is how violent and out-of-control it’s gotten in downtown Madison:

The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Handgun Hotline is cutting its hours of operation to allow staff to leave work in “daylight” hours so they can escape peak rioting time.

DOJ’s Firearms Unit/Crime Information Bureau is located on West Main Street, right in the heart of the Madison’s madness, where “peaceful” radical left demonstrators have toppled historic statues, assaulted citizens and tried to burn down government buildings.

On Wednesday, a day after the Capitol Square erupted in chaos, the DOJ changed the hotline’s hours of daily operation from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A DOJ official tells Empower Wisconsin the new hours will be in effect at least through the weekend, depending on what goes down in Mad Town.

So the message here is, because Madison’s liberal leaders can’t protect its citizens, a resident in Madison, or anywhere else in the state, may have to wait longer to be able to purchase a firearm and protect herself.

The hotline is also open on the weekend, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. That hasn’t changed.

But for dealers looking to finish a transaction in the highly regulated field of gun sales, the daily window, at least for now has closed early.

All registered firearms dealers are required to call the Crime Information Bureau- Handgun Hotline before transferring a handgun.

The department has five business days to complete the background check, according to the state website. The dealer is given an approval number or a denial number for the transfer of the handgun when eligibility or non-eligibility can be determined.

State law — in effect since 1991 — requires all Wisconsin firearm dealers licensed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms conduct a mandatory background check for anyone requesting to purchase a handgun (or a handgun and a long gun) in Wisconsin.

Dealers may access the FFL dealer registration form online, but that doesn’t come with a DOJ representative to help troubleshoot after 5 p.m.

The hotline may be reached at (608) 261-7998.