MADISON, Wis. – Anxious lawmakers convened Wednesday under heightened security in Wisconsin’s state Capitol, one of the most publicly accessible statehouses in the country, days after a legislator and her husband in neighboring Minnesota were shot and killed at their home and others were targeted.
The tension playing out in Wisconsin and other states after the Minnesota killings pits those who want to keep state capitols as open and accessible as possible against those concerned about increasing threats and acts of violence against officeholders.
Other states take action
Numerous states took action this week to protect personal information of lawmakers after the targeted shootings of two Minnesota state lawmakers. The second legislator and his wife sustained serious injuries in the shootings early Saturday. A suspect, Vance Boelter, surrendered to police on Sunday.
Prosecutors say Boelter had dozens of additional potential targets. They included state and federal officeholders in Wisconsin.
Legislatures in most states are done meeting for the year, but those like Wisconsin that are still in session are taking emergency action to bolster security.
The police chief at the North Carolina General Assembly said Monday in an email to legislators that “we are working on enhanced security plans and are doing our best to keep everyone safe.” But further details haven’t been released and there’s been no significant change seen in security on the surface.
In Arizona, more state troopers were assigned to the state Senate building, said Senate GOP Spokesperson Kim Quintero.
Security bolstered in Wisconsin
Security changes for Wednesday’s meeting of the Wisconsin Legislature were mostly out of sight.
Visitors to the Capitol could still enter the building without going through a metal detector, but anyone wanting to watch in the Senate’s public gallery had to go through an additional security check. Those wishing to watch the Assembly session from the gallery could do so, but they were encouraged to instead view it from another room.
In a more visible sign of force, there were state patrol officers in the building and around both legislative chambers in addition to the usual Capitol Police.
There were new security screenings for reporters attending a news conference in the Senate parlor, and the Democratic Assembly leader’s door that is typically open was locked with a sign saying anyone with an appointment could knock to gain entry.
“I feel safe in our Capitol building,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein said before session began Wednesday.
Not everyone felt the same way.
“We need to have a higher level of security,” Republican Sen. Chris Kapenga told WISN-TV. He supports adding metal detectors and banning guns for anyone in the building except for lawmakers. He said he always carries a gun in the Capitol.
“We should not be worried about our lives walking into that building,” Kapenga said.
Prior security concerns
Wisconsin is a presidential battleground state used to high-stakes political fights and frequent large protests both inside and outside of the Capitol.
Two years ago a man armed with a loaded handgun came into the Wisconsin Capitol looking for Gov. Tony Evers, who was not there at the time.
Wisconsin is one of seven states where concealed weapons are allowed in the Capitol, according to a 2021 report by the Council of State Governments. Thirty-six states ban concealed weapons in their capitol buildings.
There have been some visible security increases at the Wisconsin Capitol in recent months. Anyone attending oral arguments of the state Supreme Court, which meets in a room just around the corner from the legislative chambers, must go through a metal detector.
That was added after a retired judge was shot and killed in a targeted attack at his home in 2022 and amid increasing threats to members of the judiciary. Evers and other lawmakers were also on a list that gunman had.
No metal detectors
The Wisconsin Capitol has its own police force housed in the basement, but the building is not protected by metal detectors, screening checkpoints or X-rays. Anyone can walk in off the street between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. during the week and go straight to the offices of state lawmakers and others.
The Wisconsin Capitol is one of 11 state capitols that does not have metal detectors, a state audit found last year. It is one of 19 states without X-ray machines to scan items people bring into the building, the audit found.
Metal detectors were installed at the Capitol in late February 2011 at the height of protests over then-Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal, later signed into law, that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers. They were removed four months later under an agreement reached between Walker’s administration and the state employees union, which sued to get the Capitol reopened without metal detectors.
State Capitol security concerns were raised again after the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But at the time, the Wisconsin Capitol was closed to the general public due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Wisconsin Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Wednesday that it was important to “take a breath” and not have a “knee-jerk reaction” to the Minnesota shootings. “Trying to make the Capitol into a fortress” is not the answer, he said.
“The thing that’s most scary is this didn’t occur in a Capitol,” Vos said, “it occurred in someone’s home.”
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Associated Press writers Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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