
Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee) and Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine).
Rep. Adam Neylon, left, and Sen. Van Wanggaard, say their bill would 'keep children safe from accidental injury, death, and suicide.'
Two Republican lawmakers, Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee) and Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), are seeking co-sponsors for a bill that would exempt gun safes from sales taxes, a proposal which Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to push through as a budget measure as well as a stand-alone bill last session.
Versions of the legislation have been attempted since 2016, with varying degrees of bipartisan support. Neylon and Wanggaard’s bill signals more Republicans might now be on board with the idea.
“The bill was then, and is now, a common-sense bill to help firearm owners safely secure their weapons,” Scott Kelly, chief of staff to Wanggaard, writes in an email to Isthmus.
In a email to colleagues, Neylon and Wanggaard argued the legislation would encourage secure gun storage and “keep children safe from accidental injury, death, and suicide.”
Kelly says Neylon started talking about reintroducing the bill in December, but was uncertain if that was before or after the Dec. 16 shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, in which a school shooter killed a classmate and teacher before killing herself. Local police and federal officials are still investigating, and have not shared information related to the origin of the two handguns the shooter possessed when she died.
Gov. Tony Evers included a measure in his 2023-2025 budget to exempt gun safes and locks from taxes, but the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee removed it. Wanggaard told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at the time that the measure “may have merit” but should be considered outside of the budget process.
Democratic Rep. Lisa Subeck of Madison, who has authored similar legislation in previous sessions, was surprised to see what she calls the “billjacking.” Yet she’s pleased to see the bill is gaining traction, and says she would be happy to work with her Republican colleagues on potential modifications.
“The fact that Neylon went ahead and circulated, that means that I think it's getting some sort of a nod from Republicans. And I feel really good about that,” Subeck says, calling the proposal “low-hanging fruit.”
Subeck last introduced the tax-exemption bill — which included trigger locks, as well as gun safes — in June 2023, after it was removed from Evers’ budget. Referred to the Republican-controlled Ways and Means committee, the bill never received a hearing. Subeck says she requested Evers include the bill in his budget again this year, though she’s unsure if he will.
There is no price tag yet for Neylon and Wanggaard’s bill, but it was calculated that the 2023 legislation would cost the state $310,000 in annual revenue, according to a fiscal impact statement. In their co-sponsorship memo, Neylon and Wangaard say the measure would make gun safes more affordable. Gun safes can range in price from $200 to $2,000, according to gun control advocacy nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety.
Advocates argue that gun safes help prevent accidental gun deaths and suicide by firearm by making guns harder to access. Between 2004 and 2022, 7,388 Wisconsinites died of suicide by firearm, according to state Department of Health Services data. There have been 131 accidental gun deaths in Wisconsin between 2004 and 2022.