imported post
I sent this memo to the So. Milwaukee Mayor, Aldemen and Police Chief Ann Wellens.
It is said that the city of So. Milwaukee is in the process of enacting an ordinance regulating the open carry of firearms within it's jurisdiction. The ordinance is supposedly numbered 23.03. It reads:
Section 23.03 Firearms Prohibited. (1) It is unlawful for any person to carry any firearm, loaded or unloaded in any public building, on the grounds surrounding any public building, in any public park, in any school, on any school grounds, on any playground,at little league field,throughout Grant Park and the Oak Creek Parkway, on any premises licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages and on the grounds of and within any premises where the owner or lessee has posted a sign prohibiting the carrying of firearms.
I would like to call your attention to the fact that certain portions of the ordinance are contrary to the limits of firearm control put on political subdivisions of the state, by way of state statute 66.0409.
66.0409 Local regulation of firearms.
(2) Except as provided in subs. (3) and (4), no political subdivision
may enact an ordinance or adopt a resolution that regulates
the sale, purchase, purchase delay, transfer, ownership, use, keeping,
possession, bearing, transportation, licensing, permitting,
registration or taxation of any firearm or part of a firearm, including
ammunition and reloader components, unless the ordinance or
resolution is the same as or similar to, and no more stringent than,
a state statute.
Under the umbrella of s66.0409 it is my interpretation that the parts of the proposed ordinance that are in opposition to s66.0409 are:
, on the grounds surrounding any public building, in any public park, on any playground, at little league fields, throughout Grant Park and the Oak Creek Parkway, and on the grounds of and within any premises where the owner or lessee has posted a sign prohibiting the carrying of firearms.
The State has no statutes prohibiting or regulating carry of firearms in those locations. The State prohibitions are limited to: in public buildings, places that sell on sale alcohol, transport in or on a vehicle and in school zones. Any local ordinances that prohibit and regulate firearm carry in additional locations are in fact not similar to and are more strict than the state statutes and are therefore contrary to s66.0409.
The statute references the posting of “no guns allowed” signs by private businesses. That in itself is prohibited by the word, bearing, as contained in s66.0409. While it may, in dispute, be allowable for business owners to restrict access to their establishments, it is against s66.0409 for a local subdivision to ticket and penalize a person for firearm carry in private businesses. If such person refuses to leave at owner request then a charge of disorderly conduct or trespass may be warranted, but not a ticket for the simpleact of firearm carry.
Attorney General Van Hollen's recent memorandum which confirmed that the people of Wisconsin do have the constitutional right to open carry firearms is sometimes used as an endorsement of “no guns allowed “ signage by private businesses, in fact your own police chief Ann Wellens has done so. There is no mention of such a matter in the AG memorandum.
Respectfully,
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