Khary Penebaker

Former DNC Rep from Wisconsin

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Penebaker: Permitless carry bill would make Wisconsin a more dangerous place

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Infant Khary & mother

Penebaker: Permitless carry bill would make Wisconsin a more dangerous place

On Sept. 8, 1979, she left a note, drove on the freeway, sat in the car by herself and pulled the trigger. My mom, Joyce, was only 27 years old when she shot and killed herself. I don’t remember anything about her.

I don’t know what my mother’s voice sounds like, what her smell or touch is like. All I have are a few faded pictures and a death certificate. I don’t remember what Christmas morning was like with her or what her fun things to do with me were. My mom missed me earning an athletic scholarship to college. She missed the births of my three kids and my wedding to my beautiful wife. She missed every mistake and every success I’ve ever had.

In Wisconsin, we experienced more than 600 gun deaths in 2015 alone, and nearly 70% of those gun deaths were gun suicides like my mom. Southeastern Wisconsin, particularly Milwaukee, has experienced a deadly amount of gun violence that claimed the lives of 250 people from 2015 to 2016, according to the Journal Sentinel. These aren’t just statistics, these numbers represent the pain that nearly 600 families have endured, families that now join the loneliest club. When you see these numbers and then you meet the families behind the statistics, you understand that the deadly epidemic of gun violence is more than the black-and-white figures on a piece of paper.

But instead of taking meaningful action to reduce gun deaths, some of our representatives in Madison are trying to weaken our existing gun laws. There’s a gun bill being considered in the statehouse, SB 169, that instead of doing anything to make us safer would instead eliminate our permit requirement for concealed carry — taking away a basic safety standard that helps law enforcement ensure that people carrying handguns in public have clean criminal records and safety training.

Wisconsin’s Professional Police Association opposes this proposal on the ground that it eliminates the current training requirement. Recent polling shows a majority (86%) of Wisconsin gun owners think you should have a permit and safety training to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public.

READ MORE ON JSONLINE: http://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/05/08/penebaker-concealed-carry-bill-would-make-wisconsin-more-dangerous-place/101340776/

The Cost of Domestic Violence

By

khary main wht back1

For Immediate Release

October 21, 2016

Contact: media@kharyforcongress.com

 

The Cost of Domestic Violence

Waukesha, WI – Khary Penebaker, Democratic nominee for Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional District, issued the following statement:

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and today is the fourth anniversary of the Azana Spa mass shooting in Brookfield where an estranged ex-husband invaded his ex-wife’s workplace and shot and killed three women and wounded four others. It is not a rare incident – every day three people die in America as a result of domestic violence. As we remember this attack today in our community, every other part of America is also remembering its own loss because everyone in America lives near a place where domestic violence took their neighbors. Today we mourn the loss of Zina Daniel, Cary Robuck, and Maelyn Lind along with the countless other lives we’ve lost to domestic violence.

We need to do better.  We need to listen to women who are in danger, and we need a federal law that offers a mechanism for removing weapons from the possession of a convicted domestic abuser.  Recently, the Wisconsin legislature in a bipartisan vote approved the same law (the SAFE Act), but many states still allow this domestic violence escalation loophole.  We need to enact similar commonsense legislation federally so we can prevent future tragedies from occurring.  We know the clearest predictor of future violence is past violence.  Three women every day, 52 every month via guns.  We must elect a Congress that cares about women or we will continue to add to the long list of lost neighbors.

For anonymous, confidential help available 24/7, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or 1-800-787-3224 (TTY) now.

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Congress Fails to Protect America

By

 

khary main wht back1

 

For Immediate Release
June 23, 2016
Contact: media@kharyforcongress.com

Congress Fails to Protect America

Waukesha, WI – Khary Penebaker, Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional District Democratic candidate issued the following statement:

“If a person should be prohibited from boarding a plane, they should be prohibited from purchasing a gun. Right now, lone wolf terrorists can purchase an unlimited amount of firearms and ammunition for attacking movie theaters, churches, nightclubs, and anywhere else we gather to celebrate living in a free and tolerant society. My opponent, Congressman Sensenbrenner, has been characteristically silent: he does not care to make even one single statement on the horrific Orlando shooting, the worst mass shooting in modern American history.

“The sadistic terror group we call ISIS is a threat today, but swearing allegiance to Daesh is the murder equivalent of buying a concert T-shirt at a store in the mall. We will soon defeat them, but our most dangerous citizens will simply move on to the next trendy evil.  We already know how to deal with that problem: a terrorist no-fly and no-buy list, accurate and subject to due process, that doesn’t stop people from living their lives but simply keeps them away from the tools they need to maim and kill others. Disingenuous or sincere, calls for perfection should not be the enemy of good policy.  Experts and the American people have agreed for years now about what action is needed to protect our children and neighbors from our enemies.

“I have advocated for the common sense solution to this problem since the first day of my campaign; my opponent has been avoiding both solutions and common sense for years.  Indeed, it’s already been a decade since the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said it best: “[The] gun lobby calls the shots with Sensenbrenner.”

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Khary for Congress 336 Wisconsin Avenue Waukesha WI 53186

www.kharyforcongress.com

CLOSE THE TERROR GAP