imported post
Jeff Wagner is really on the wrong side of this issue and he is bearing false prophet to his support of the second amendment.
In the past 6 months or so, Open-Carry has been a topic of Jeff's show at least 3 times that I remember. Each of those times, his contention remains the same. "Open-Carry is hurting the cause". Is it really Jeff?
I think Jeff Wagner is hurting the cause. Jeff misunderstands what the right to keep and bear arms is all about. He thinks a permit system with mandatory government training, registration and licensing is what our founding fathers had in mind.
Jeff says "I am a huge believer in the 2nd Amendment"
I don't think the facts bear that out Jeff...
He says he believes "Wisconsin needs to move in the direction of broadening the rights of law abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms with various restrictions"
There has to be:
Training
Licensing
Registration
Education
Jeff, if you want to "broaden the rights" of law abiding citizens, how is mandatory government training, permits, permit fee's, registration ect. "broadening" the rights of law-abiding citizens.
Perhaps its "rights" that Mr. Wagner doesn't understand.
Its VERY ironic to hear Mr. Wagner claim that "open-carry is hurting the cause"
I think Mr. Wagner is hurting the cause. He's hurting the cause because he is putting his OWN misconceptions that are not based on reality but his own former leo perspective out on the airwaves and claiming that is how most people feel. He is dead wrong.
In the above link to the segment today Jeff claims people who open-carry will scare people. Jeff says:
"I think the general reaction that most people in public have when they see someone walking down the street and they see someone with a gun on their hip is "my god why does this person have a gun"
Jeff is DEAD wrong. People do not get alarmed, they do not get scared. By going on the airwaves and claiming that "most people" in the general public are alarmed he's perpetuation falsities and myth. JEFF is hurting the cause of the 2nd Amendment and right to carry.
We can all attest that Jeff is wrong.
When I grocery shop while open-carrying women with children notice my sidearm and CONTINUE to shop right next to me. If they were uncomfortable, if they were alarmed, surely they'd head to the next aisle, or the other side of the store. SURELY someone would talk to the manager.
We all know this doesn't happen. SO while Jeff Wagner SPECULATES what people will do and perpetuates that misconception on the airwaves HURTING the cause, we are out there going about our business, alarming next to NO ONE.
And Jeff claims Open-Carriers are setting back the cause? THAT is Irony.
Jeff, ALMOST no one is alarmed. People go about their business. THE CAUSE is advanced when people with no exposure to guns other than crime on the nightly news SEE that law-abiding citizens; old, young, white-collar, blue-collar, men, women, mothers, doctors, lawyers, school teachers. ALL these people open-carry in Wisconsin. Across the country ALL these people carry on a daily basis. Open-Carry shows the public that "good guys carry too".
Other quotes from Jeff Wagner in the above segment:
In general these type of activities "hurt the cause"
In his opinion ONLY.
Vast majority of people do not believe that average citizens should be just walking down the street without a permit without any registration without any training with guns on their hips.
Jeff has NO data to support this claim
Rise of this "open carry movement" is setting back the bigger picture of 2nd amendment rights and conceal carry.
CATEGORICALLY WRONG... Rise of the open-carry movement is ADVANCING the big picture. "Conceal Carry" is the small picture. The RIGHT to carry in the manner of your choosing WITHOUT useless permits that criminals ignore and useless licensing fee's that only support the governments own bureaucracy is the BIG picture.
Jeff Wagner needs to step back and look at what is happening in America. People are DONE with big nanny government. DONE with useless regulation that only encumbers the law-abiding while crime and criminals are unaffected. Jeff Wagner has a typical law-enforcement perspective. As ex-law enforcement he doesn't understand rights AT all. If he thinks what the majority of americans want is more government control, more government intervention in our lives, more fees, more requirements... He's wrong.
