Damakant Jayshi
The Wausau Public Health and Safety Committee on Monday approved the police department’s request to issue citations for the use of facsimile firearms in line with an existing Wisconsin statute.
The Wausau Police Department requested the committee to include the Wisconsin statute related to restrictions on the use of facsimile firearms into the Wausau Municipal Code. “A ‘facsimile firearm’ means any replica, toy, starter pistol, or other object that bears a reasonable resemblance to or that reasonably can be perceived to be an actual firearm,” according to a memo written by Investigations Captain Benjamin Graham.
The police sought the inclusion of the state statute, which is not currently included in the Wausau code of ordinances, into the municipal code to enforce the restriction through a proposed citation. The recommended fine is $150.
Deputy Police Chief Matthew Barnes said that a typical penalty in a circuit court is a forfeiture, rather than a misdemeanor or felony. In Wausau, a forfeiture usually results in a fine. When the forfeiture is related to paying a fine, the City of Wausau issues a citation for that purpose, Barnes said.
“We’d rather have the fine come through the municipal court than go through the circuit court,” he added.
Police say they discovered in a recent case that they could not regulate the use of facsimile firearms when a suspect with a stolen vehicle from the City of Marshfield was apprehended. He was initially said to be in possession of a black handgun and threatened to shoot officers if they attempted to stop him. The police found that the ‘handgun’ was actually a facsimile. It was then they realized that they could not enforce the state statute because it was not part of the city’s code.
The PHS Committee chair said it would be another tool in the hands of the police should they require it and impose fines if needed.
