As part of a new statewide effort to reduce gun violence, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is praising firing range owners who have a program to store their customers' guns. Evers also backs the sale of gun safes to be used at home.
Evers has often spoken in favor of adding what he calls common-sense gun regulations, so he may not be the first person you think of as willing to tour a firing range and visit a gunfire simulation room. But he did so Tuesday, Jan. 14 at Bear Arms Boutique Firing Range near an industrial area along Granville Road in Mequon.
Founder and co-owner Cheryle Rebholz gave Evers a tour of the six-year-old business, including a room where videos showed various threats — like a man entering a coffee shop and opening fire.

Rebholz explained the video.
“This is a training one. You would have someone here holding on to this firearm and trying to shoot back. And then you can debrief to see where you shot, so you can improve your skill set," Rebholz says.
Rebholz says that in another training video, you can shoot a zombie.
The governor did no simulated shooting.

The tour then moved on to the building’s indoor firing range. Rebholz described the room, which is used by a variety of individuals and firearms training classes.
"Black walls help deaden the sound, because it gets really loud in here. The floors are very decorative. No one picked up on that, but the women in the group did," Rebholz says.
The tour also included a stop at a display area where gun safes—for use at homes, hunting lodges, and so on—are sold.
Bear Arms co-owner Mark Rebholz showed Evers how an alarm goes off when an unauthorized person tries to open a safe.
Bear Arms also offers a five-dollar-a-month gun storage service for registered customers to bring in their firearms. Cheryle Rebholz says she began the program about four years ago after speaking with experts at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Veterans Administration about gun-owning veterans going through post-traumatic stress or other problems.
“If they’re feeling certain feelings, and unsafe, then they can drop it off here, no questions asked up to 90 days," Rebholz says.
WUWM asked if the storage has made a difference in safety. “Yes it has. We can’t elaborate. But if it gets used, it’s made a difference for the cooling off period,” Rebholz says.
Rebholz says the storage is now available to more than veterans.

Evers says a statewide Office of Violence Prevention he announced yesterday will encourage more gun shops and firing ranges to offer gun storage.
“Oh, absolutely. I mean, it’s all part of it. We aren’t here to take guns away. We just want to make sure that they are handled correctly, and gun safes are certainly one of those ways to do that. We’d be willing to work with places like this to make sure that happens," Evers says.
Evers is using an executive order to direct $10 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to pay for the state office, which will also administer grants for local gun violence prevention.
State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Racine County) is dismissing the idea of putting state funds into the new office. To which Evers, who often spars with Vos, says: “Well, he’s a happy boy, isn’t he?”
Evers says firing ranges like Bear Arms Boutique see the value of violence prevention.