Assembly leader carries weapon on floor

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Republican lawmaker who presides over the state Assembly said Friday he's been carrying a concealed weapon during floor sessions.

Speaker Pro Tem Bill Kramer, of Waukesha, essentially controls the chamber during debate, presiding over procedures and controlling the debate. He also can order spectators out of the chamber if he so chooses.

He told The Associated Press that he obtained permit No. 16,657 under Wisconsin's new concealed carry law in November. He said he has carried a hidden Glock 26, a subcompact semi-automatic, onto the floor at times.

He said he feels he needs the weapon given the toxic atmosphere at the state Capitol, and he's not the only lawmaker packing in the chamber.

"Have you been in the Capitol lately?" Kramer said. "The saying is you don't need a gun until you need it. I hope I go to my grave having never fired at anything but a paper target."

Bands of protesters still angry over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's contentious collective bargaining law have spent the past year harassing GOP legislators.

One threw a beer on state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Burlington, co-chairman of the Legislature's powerful finance committee, in a Madison bar in September. Last week, protesters heckled Walker from the Assembly's overhead galleries as the governor delivered his state-of-the-state address in the chamber. The next night during debate on a divisive mining permit bill, Kramer ordered the galleries cleared after agitators hung a banner over a railing and hurled profanities at lawmakers.

Wisconsin became the 49th state to allow concealed weapons in November. Under the law, state residents 21 or older who submit $50 to the Justice Department, pass an agency background check and prove they have received some firearms training can obtain a permit to carry.

Republicans decided last year to allow lawmakers in the Assembly and Senate to carry concealed weapons. The GOP chose to allow them in the Assembly's galleries but banned them in the Senate's galleries.