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http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090826/GPG0101/908260542/1207/GPG01/Green-Bay-committee-OKs-gun-ban-in-city-s-parks
The open carrying of a gun in Green Bay city parks could be banned under a recommendation by the Park Committee.
The committee voted 3-1 Tuesday in favor of the recommendation as proposed by the city's law department.Alderman Dan Piton cast the dissenting vote; committee Chairman Jerry Wiezbiskie, Celestine Jeffreys and Amy Kocha voted for it.
The proposal needs approval from the Green Bay City Council, which next meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the council chambers of City Hall, 100 N. Jefferson St. An ordinance requires at least two public readings before becoming enacted.
It's legal in Green Bay to carry a holstered gun in the open, as long as you're not in a school zone or other public building or in a place where alcohol is bought or consumed.
But the proposed ban would add city parks to the place where those weapons would be prohibited, except as it relates to duck hunting north of the Ken Euers Trail.
Under the proposal, the gathering of armed people at Ted Fritsch Park earlier this month for a picnic held in celebration of the right to bear arms would not be allowed.
"I see it as blatantly anti-gun and anti-Second Amendment," said Ed Foral, 41, of Green Bay, who helped organize that picnic.
Foral said the city's law department proposed the ban as a direct result of the pro-gun picnic. He told the committee such a ban, coupled with the ban against carrying weapons within 1,000 feet of a school, effectively would eliminate zones in the city where open carrying of firearms would be permitted.
Piton said he didn't see such a ban holding up in court.
"If this is overturned in court, so be it," Wiezbiskie said. He said he wouldn't be comfortable having his grandchildren seeing guns at Bay Beach Amusement Park.
Kocha said people have a right to feel safe in city parks. She likened it to unleashed dogs, which the city bans in part to protect people's right to enjoy the parks without feeling intimidated.
"While I respect the right to bear arms, it has to affect people's right to enjoy the parks," she said.
The sight of firearms promotes a natural fear in many people, she said.
"This is about expectations and what people are used to," Piton said. "If people were used to seeing holstered weapons, they wouldn't freak out."
The common appearance of guns in parks would have the benefit of educating youngsters about their Constitutional rights, he said.
Assistant City Attorney Tony Wachewicz said the draft ordinance was patterned after a state law that banned guns in state parks. The law has been on the books since 1989, he said.