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A victory for carry rights in Portage Wisconsin

Wisconsin Carry Inc. - Chairman

Wisconsin Carry, Inc.
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On April 26th 2010 Wisconsin Carry was contacted by a state resident who's husband had been legally open-carrying in Wal-Mart in Portage and was stopped by police and told that a local ordinance prohibited the carry of a firearm.

Portage is now aware that their ordinance is preempted and plans are in the works with the city administrator to change the ordinance. Portage officials also found that Pardeeville and Montello have similar ordinances and planned to contact those municipalities as well.

Wisconsin Carry did an open-records request that, in the words of the Portage Chief of Police: "As a result of the above incident and your records request, we are training our officers how to respond to these calls similar to that of LaCrosse PD. We have also come up with a brochure on "Carrying Firearms" that we can provide to businesses. One is enclosed"

The letter from the Portage Chief of Police along with open-records information gathered and a copy of the brochure is available for view here:

http://www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/Portage2.pdf

Carry On Portage!

Nik Clark
Chairman/President - Wisconsin Carry, Inc.
 

Captain Nemo

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I think an emal of thanks and appreciation is due Chief Manthey for theprofessional manner and attention he haspaid to this matter. Every so often we are reminded that there are good cops out there.
 

J.Johnson

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i was the one carrying in portage and contacted the city administrator and mayor to let them know that they're ordinence was preempted
 

Wisconsin Carry Inc.

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J.Johnson wrote:
i was the one carrying in portage and contacted the city administrator and mayor to let them know that they're ordinence was preempted
Welcome to the forum J. I would like to thank you and all those who carryfor your efforts to advance carry rights in Wisconsin. I would also like to thank you and your wife for contacting Wisconsin Carry, Inc. By contacting us and providing the necessary information, Wisconsin Carry, Inc. was able to make the open records request, resulting in the policy change.

By working together, we were able to further educate the public and law enforcement.

Please continue to monitor the ordinance update procedure and feel free to contact us or post here with any additional questions.

Wisconsin Carry, Inc. remains committed to advancing carry (open/concealed) rights throughout the state.We encourageany individualwho might find themselves in a similar situation to contact Wisconsin Carry, Inc. so we can work to achieve a positive outcome.

Again, thank you J.

Carry On

Hubert Hoffman, Vice President
Wisconsin Carry, Inc.
P.O. Box 270403
Milwaukee, WI. 53227
Hubert@wisconsincarry.org
608-792-0669
http://www.wisconsincarry.org
 

Cobra469

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This is a very nice job. Everything here was handled with complete dignity. While the OCer could have stood his ground during the confrontation and risk being arrested they chose not to. That is their choice and I will not judge their decision. After all they contacted WCI and this was resolved very well and nobody got hurt.

I noticed in the report that the Walmart manager was incorrectly informed about the laws. I would suggest anybody who OC in any of those store listed carry this pamphlet with them. Unless somebody can make contact witht he store manager in the report or other managers and clarify this and Wlamart corporate policy so that there is no further confusion on this manner.
 

bnhcomputing

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Cobra469 wrote:
I noticed in the report that the Walmart manager was incorrectly informed about the laws. I would suggest anybody who OC in any of those store listed carry this pamphlet with them. Unless somebody can make contact witht he store manager in the report or other managers and clarify this and Wlamart corporate policy so that there is no further confusion on this manner.
Working on that already!
 

J.Johnson

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Cobra469 wrote:
This is a very nice job. Everything here was handled with complete dignity. While the OCer could have stood his ground during the confrontation and risk being arrested they chose not to.
When you have to cops walk up to you while you are with your wife and 4 kids, you just want to get out of the situation with out my kids seeing thier dad arrested. The cops had said that citys had the right to restict open carry and at the time I wasn't aware of the WI statute that guarentees it. Besides, when you're cought off guard and are wondering what's going on, isn't the time to fight the cops. We just went home to arm ourselves with the law and start the process of changing it.
 

paul@paul-fisher.com

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Good job!!!

One interesting thing in the Portage brochure is it says vehicle carry is allowed as long as unloaded and encased. No mention of out of reach. So, the city of Portage interprets the law that dash carry is legal as long as it is unloaded and encased.
 

Wisconsin Carry Inc. - Chairman

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paul@paul-fisher.com wrote:
Good job!!!

One interesting thing in the Portage brochure is it says vehicle carry is allowed as long as unloaded and encased. No mention of out of reach. So, the city of Portage interprets the law that dash carry is legal as long as it is unloaded and encased.

The Department of Transportation website says the same thing:

http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/statepatrol/enforcement/faqs-enforcement.htm

What is the legal method of carrying a weapon in my vehicle in Wisconsin?

With the weapon cased and unloaded. Applies to firearms and bow hunting equipment.
 

Shotgun

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J.Gleason wrote:
paul@paul-fisher.com wrote:
How did we get to the 'out of reach'? statement then? So, I can have the case on the passenger seat?
I believe it was a judge that made that comment.
It was a judge. Alloy case I believe. Fortunately the Alloy case set no precedence and it isn't even legal for it to be used in court.

And before anyone asks why it cannot be used in court-- it is because it was an unpublished opinion and unpublished opinions prior to 2009 cannot be used in court by statute. More recent unpublished opinions are allowed to be used, but only to persuade, not as precedence.

The Alloy opinion applied to Mr. Alloy and only to Mr. Alloy, and not to anyone else.

If anyone can correct my opinion, please do.
 

Fireball357

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A similar action is in the works for St. Croix Co. with regard to carry in County Parks.

My request for removing the statute from the books because it is in direct conflict with State statute 66.0409 was on the agenda for the meeting this last Tuesday’s 5-25-10 board meeting.

Here is a recap of the board’s actions:


There was no resolve to the removal of the county ordinance forbidding the carrying of firearms in parks that is in direct conflict with state statute 66.0409 forbidding Political Subdivisions from having ordinances that are more strict than state statutes.

The board moved to table the proposal until a public hearing is held where the county attorney and another legal advisor.

(I don’t remember what they called it; _________ council).

They failed to set a firm date; it will be put on a future agenda that both attorneys can attend. One board member admitted that he hoped that the attorneys wouldn’t be able to schedule it in hopes that they wouldn’t have to deal with it. Another board member looked right at me as he said “ we need to get this addressed because I don’t think it will just go away”

He is correct!

I will give everyone as much notice as possible of the public hearing.

I tried to explain it to one board member that even if they had 100% community support to keep it on the books; it is in violation of State statute, it has nothing to do with popularity, it’s about the law, his response was, “ we will see about that at the board meeting”

A big THANK YOU to James Stauffer (a newly elected board member) for supporting this and for bringing this forward and getting it on the docket.
 
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