imported post
Interviewer: Talk about a little bit about open carry its been a few weeks or month or so since you issued your legal opinion and thats caused quite a stir.... ah... some confusion as well.
Where do you see the case going now as far as interpretation at the local level or even the legislature being involved?
Attorney General: Well I know that some members of the legislature have talked about becoming involved but they must keep in mind that what we are interpreting was the constitution of the state of wisconsin its not something that the legislature can very easily change.. ah um... nor should the legilsture be able to very easily change the constitution. The peole of wisconsin by our legal interpretation amended the constitution years ago specifically to protect their rights to keep and bear arms. If they can't carry concealled weapons the only way they can actually bear arms is to have them exposed. People who are anti-firearm can't have it both ways that is CLEARLY what our law says and thats all we did was interpret that for the sake of law enforcement.
Interviewer: For the sake of law enforcement we've seen milwaukee's police chief kinda taking a harder line saying that they still wanna be very aggresive in seeing anybody who has open carry or is carry a concealled or a excuse me a firearm and thats actually upset a few gun rights advocates, whats your take on that?
AG: Well you know obviously I'm very pro law-enforcement very pro public safety and the job of law enforcement is very difficult especially in the city of milwaukee were crime the rates are so high they are legitimately concerned about people walking the streets carrying guns, however our system of government is set up to protect peoples civil rights as well. And we could certainly turn milwaukee into a police state and we could almost eliminate crime but thats not what wisconsin or the united states is all about. We've gotta balance public safety with our civil rights and our constitutional rights and so its a balancing act that we do in the department of justice as well. I certainly am concerned for the safetly of law enforcement officers ah by the same token people by having the ability to legally carry firearms in every other state in the union has not jeopardized law enforcement. We don't hear any analogous details about that happening. So I don't think its really a concern but I do think that law enforcement of course is always a little bit worried about their safety and they should be.
Interviewer: Some legal clarification who's shoulders does it fall on to interpret the legal opinion of yours regarding open carry the prosecutors, circuit judges, whom?
AG: All of the above, in our system of governmentdiscretion is a very veryimportant element. Law enforcement officers on the street are the first line of discretion. they have to determine whether there is a crime committed by the person who is carrying a gun. we've made it quite clear that carrying the gun alone is not a crime if it is exposed. They have to determine if there is more involved to make it some form of a crime. Then its up to the prosecutor to determine whether they agree with law enforcement whether to charge, its up to the judge or jury next ah to determine whether they agree with the prosecutor, then there's an appellate process. So there are a lot of steps to protect the rights of citizens and quite frankly a lot of steps to protect law enforcement in their decisions