Madison PD Policy

imported post

I'm new to the opencarry website, and mostly stuck to the concealed carry bandwagon. Now that I've found this website I am very curious about open carrying and how alot of people carry cameras to document any harassment. I contacted the Madison PD and asked for their response to the "open carry" topic and how they would handle it and below is their response, tell me if you think it is "canned" or if they would actually be fair. My brother in law told me they would most likely give your disorderly ticket if you carried openly.

> The Madison

> Police Department respects

> the rights and freedoms afforded its citizens. We are also obligated

> to keep peace and order and to enforce laws as appropriate. We are

> familiar with the ‘open carry’ issue and feel that as long as citizens

> respectfully exercise their rights and freedoms within the law, there

> will be little concern on our part.

imported post

Concealed carry is explicitly prohibited with case law providing the elements of the crime.

The Madison PD has used disorderly conduct with the weapons enhancement to harass otherwise legal gun carry.

imported post

First let me say WELCOME and please check out wisconsincarry.org

I live in Monroe and work in Madison FYI per a memo from AG they should not be issuing you a DC for OCing.

Just make sure you follow the laws and you should be fine.

imported post

As far as I know, there has only been one case of a legal OC'er being ticketed in Madison, Travis Yates; and the charges against him were dropped by the DA.

I carry a bit around the west side of Madison and have yet to be harassed by MPD or anyone else for that matter. I have had clerks ringing me up ask about it, just pure curiosity. A few people I have talked to didn't know it was not against the law and seemed genuinely excited by the idea.

imported post

Thanks guys. So it looks like Madison should be pretty fair. So if I strap up outside my car and go in stores that are pro-OC I should be good to go then.

imported post

thatsabig44 wrote:

Thanks guys. So it looks like Madison should be pretty fair. So if I strap up outside my car and go in stores that are pro-OC I should be good to go then.

Click to expand...

You should ask your personal attorney that question.

http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/forum57/30060.html

I recently chose between going to a lawyers conference I-ANAL on OC guns in part put on in Madison or video conferenced in Green Bay and I selected GB to avoid MPD.

imported post

thatsabig44 wrote:

Thanks guys. So it looks like Madison should be pretty fair. So if I strap up outside my car and go in stores that are pro-OC I should be good to go then.

Click to expand...

Not legal advice.....

Yep, stick to those places that are NOT bars and EVERYTHING else should be OC OK.

Read up, Load up, Holster up, .......

Carry On

imported post

Yes, they're familiar with the "open carry issue" because they've already messed up recently when they arrested Travis Yates for carrying his pistol downtown last summer. The city attorney reminded the police to be a little more careful about automatically hauling someone in for merely carrying a firearm. Yet the city attorney didn't promptly move to dismiss the charges against Mr. Yates. Instead, they dragged it out until last month when they finally dropped the charges-- holding it over Travis' head until he moved out of town.

Coming from Madison PD that's not a bad statement. I've gone 'round and 'round for at least 15 years with them on the subject of open carry and usually the best you can get from them is an open-ended vague response. In my opinion the response depends entirely upon who is talking. I've been told "You'd be charged with disorderly conduct because somebody was upset enough to call the police." (Granted that was long before Attorney General memorandum.) I've also been told that police officers would simply observe from a distance to see if there were any violations of the law. (That also was prior to the Attorney General memo-- although the arrest of Travis Yates shows, evidently, that not every member of the Madison Police Department subscribed to the "simply observe" approach.)


Personally I've had no problems whatsoever with open carry in Madison. I suspect that the main reason is that nobody has ever bothered to contact the police when they've seen me. (Could it be due to my wholesome clean-cut, non-threatening appearance? )

I have the impression that whenever Madison PD gets asked about open carry they get very concerned that somebody is actually going to do it. So, don't ask them, just do it.

To be fair, I think generally the Madison police are well-trained and professional.

imported post

thatsabig44 wrote:

Thanks guys.  So it looks like Madison should be pretty fair.  So if I strap up outside my car and go in stores that are pro-OC I should be good to go then. 

Click to expand...

don't forget to be careful bout school zones.