hugh jarmis
Centurion
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http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/43347632.html
Doyle: Local communities should be able to bar open carrying of guns
By Stacy Forster of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Apr. 21, 2009 12:00 p.m.
Madison - Local communities should be able to adopt their own ordinances relating to guns, including prohibiting people from carrying them openly, Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday.
Doyle, a Democrat, was reacting to a memorandum from Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen on Monday that said it's legal to openly carry a gun on the street in Wisconsin. Van Hollen advised prosecutors that merely having a gun doesn't warrant a disorderly conduct charge.
Doyle said prosecutors and police departments will have to weigh whether such situations constitute disorderly conduct, but said a former state policy that allowed local governments to enact their own ordinances requiring guns made sense.
"To me it's a very different issue whether you're walking down Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee with a gun on your hip and that's very different than if you're carrying a hunting rifle through a town during hunting season," Doyle said to reporters following an event at Edgewood College.
In 1995, former Gov. Tommy G. Thompson signed into law a bill wiping out about 35 local gun-control ordinances, saying he wanted to empower individuals, not the government. Doyle, who was attorney general at the time, opposed the law, arguing it jeopardized the safety of Wisconsin citizens.
Carrying concealed weapons is not allowed in Wisconsin. Doyle twice vetoed legislation that would have made concealed carry legal.
Doyle stopped short of calling on the Legislature to change the law.
"I think we're just going to have to see how this plays out with local DAs and local police departments," Doyle said.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/43347632.html
Doyle: Local communities should be able to bar open carrying of guns
By Stacy Forster of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Apr. 21, 2009 12:00 p.m.
Madison - Local communities should be able to adopt their own ordinances relating to guns, including prohibiting people from carrying them openly, Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday.
Doyle, a Democrat, was reacting to a memorandum from Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen on Monday that said it's legal to openly carry a gun on the street in Wisconsin. Van Hollen advised prosecutors that merely having a gun doesn't warrant a disorderly conduct charge.
Doyle said prosecutors and police departments will have to weigh whether such situations constitute disorderly conduct, but said a former state policy that allowed local governments to enact their own ordinances requiring guns made sense.
"To me it's a very different issue whether you're walking down Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee with a gun on your hip and that's very different than if you're carrying a hunting rifle through a town during hunting season," Doyle said to reporters following an event at Edgewood College.
In 1995, former Gov. Tommy G. Thompson signed into law a bill wiping out about 35 local gun-control ordinances, saying he wanted to empower individuals, not the government. Doyle, who was attorney general at the time, opposed the law, arguing it jeopardized the safety of Wisconsin citizens.
Carrying concealed weapons is not allowed in Wisconsin. Doyle twice vetoed legislation that would have made concealed carry legal.
Doyle stopped short of calling on the Legislature to change the law.
"I think we're just going to have to see how this plays out with local DAs and local police departments," Doyle said.