Now this brings up an interesting question. It's always been publicized that concealed carry had been prohibited for 150 years in Wisconsin. If it has only been statutorily illegal since '77, how has it been banned for "150 years'?
Open carry under state law was always legal, but until the firearms preemption law (95?96?) many counties and municipalities had ordinances against it. Plus those that didn't cited disorderly conduct.
I proudly say that in almost 30 years of law enforcement I never arrested nor cited an open carrier. Though it was rare I did come across a few in my time. I always thought such people made my job easier by making it harder for themselves to be victims. I am so freaking glad the legislature recently tweeked the DC statute, thus acknowledging open carry as a legal, legitimate, and constitutionally protected mode of carry!
Well, I'm wondering if the good Herr HK made a typo and meant to write "1877" not
1977. 1877 would be closer to the truth.
Concealed weapons were statutorily banned in two phases. In 1872 the legislature passed a law that banned concealed weapons, leaving an exception for when "such person had reasonable cause to fear an assault or other injury or violence to his person, or to his family or property, or to any person under his immediate care or custody, or entitled to his protection or assistance, or if it be made to appear that his possession of such weapon was for a temporary purpose, and with harmless intent." Six years later, in 1878, the legislature eliminated the exceptions, prohibiting concealed weapons for all but law enforcement. That statute remained essentially unchanged until Act 35 passed last year.
So the prohibition lasted either 139 or 133 years, depending upon which date from which you measure.
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