NMA State Alert for Wisconsin: Fight Legislation to Legalize Sobriety Checkpoints
MADD is mobilizing its followers to support a proposed bill in the State Assembly that would legalize sobriety checkpoints and make a first drunk driving offense a misdemeanor. (A first DUI is currently a traffic violation in Wisconsin.) The bill, AB 547, is being reviewed by the Committee on Criminal Justice.
While the chairman of that committee, Robert Turner, is reportedly refusing to allow a hearing on this measure, it is still vitally important that Chairman Turner and other committee members hear from you in opposition to AB 547. Here is a link that provides contact information for each of the Criminal Justice committee members. Their next meeting is Thursday February 4, 2010.
The NMA opposes the use of checkpoints. The only justification for stopping citizens under a checkpoint or roadblock scenario is to warn them of an unseen peril that could cause injury or death to an unsuspecting motorist. Sobriety checkpoints are, in our opinion, unconstitutional and in direct contradiction to any honest definition of freedom. Checkpoints are used to circumvent the need for probable cause to stop, interrogate, and search the occupants of motor vehicles. Jim Baxter of the NMA penned this December 19, 2009 editorial for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on proposed legislation to tighten state DUI laws.
Also, contact your representative in the State Assembly to voice your opinion on the matter of AB 547.
While the chairman of that committee, Robert Turner, is reportedly refusing to allow a hearing on this measure, it is still vitally important that Chairman Turner and other committee members hear from you in opposition to AB 547. Here is a link that provides contact information for each of the Criminal Justice committee members. Their next meeting is Thursday February 4, 2010.
The NMA opposes the use of checkpoints. The only justification for stopping citizens under a checkpoint or roadblock scenario is to warn them of an unseen peril that could cause injury or death to an unsuspecting motorist. Sobriety checkpoints are, in our opinion, unconstitutional and in direct contradiction to any honest definition of freedom. Checkpoints are used to circumvent the need for probable cause to stop, interrogate, and search the occupants of motor vehicles. Jim Baxter of the NMA penned this December 19, 2009 editorial for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on proposed legislation to tighten state DUI laws.
Also, contact your representative in the State Assembly to voice your opinion on the matter of AB 547.
Posted by National Motorists Association
