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Wisconsin Landmarks Lit In Orange To Honor Gun Violence Victims

Color Chosen To Represent Safety

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Landmarks around Wisconsin were lit up in orange on Thursday night to remember victims of gun violence.

Dean Kaufert, the mayor of Neenah, put his support behind the campaign to wear orange even though he pushed pro-gun legislation when he served in the state Assembly.

As a state lawmaker, Kaufert authored Wisconsin’s “Castle Doctrine,” which allows property owners to open fire if they feel threatened. He also voted for a wide variety of other pro-gun legislation.

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Despite that record, Kaufert was among the speakers at a rally for the gun control group known as WAVE. He said after the event, it’s because he supports stiff penalties for people convicted of gun crimes.

“Even someone like me who supports the rights of people to have guns and to carry guns responsibly understands that guns in the wrong hands are not good and our community many times suffers because of it so I wanted to stop, do our proclamation and show our, my support,” he said. “I even went as far as having some support for minimum mandatory sentences but too many times especially in the bigger cities in this state the use of guns in commission of a crime is met with kid gloves. They’re sentenced on their way and not given a hard enough penalty.”

WAVE lit up landmarks around Wisconsin in orange. The color was chosen, partly, because it is related to safety and identified with blaze orange to protect hunters.