Milwaukee Mayor Wants Online Gun Sale Law

After the shooting spree in Brookfield this week left four people dead and four wounded, Milwaukee’s Mayor Tom Barrett wants a crackdown on online gun sellers.

Mayor Barrett says police have determined that Radcliffe Haughton got help from an internet gun dealer to buy the firearm Haughton used in Sunday’s shootings at a beauty spa. A judge had recently ordered Haughton not to possess a gun. Mayor Barrett says the shootings could have been prevented if online gun sellers had to work with federally licensed gun dealers to do a background check on potential buyers, “It’s time for action. We have to protect innocent people. We must close the background loophole.”

Barrett says it would only cost online sellers or intermediaries a few dollars to request a background check. Leaders of pro-gun groups typically oppose additional requirements for gun sales between private individuals. Mayor Barrett says if the federal government won’t close the loophole, the State of Wisconsin should.