Traveling to Wisconsin

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Next month I plan on making a trip to visit family in New Berlin and Port Washington.

Where I live in New Mexico, having a weapon concealed in any part of the vehicle is legal as the vehicle is considered an extension of my home.

I was reading online and saw that it is illegal to conceal in my glove box and illegal to open carry in my vehicle. Read somewhere that the only legal spot was in a case in the trunk.

Seems pretty ridiculous to me and I'm not comfortable with that.

Can someone please tell me if that is the case or is there another spot within arms reach I'm allowed to have it.


Thanks in advance - AB42

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ArgentineBallista42 wrote:

Seems pretty ridiculous to me and I'm not comfortable with that.

Click to expand...

You are correct and too bad

Anyhow, it has to be encased and unloaded in a vehicle.

There is some case law that implies that the gun case has to be out of reach. This is being debated on this forum as we speak.

So... The gymnastics to open carry in WI is as follows.

Put unloaded weapon in case. Put case in trunk. Drive. When you get to where you are going, pull case out of car, do not rest case on car while doing this, pull gun out of case, load and then put empty case back in car. If you open the case while it is in or touching the vehicle, you just violated WI concealed carry law.

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The court in State v. Keith stated that there is a three prong test: 1) Within Reach, 2) Hidden from ordinary view, 3) Knowledge that it is there.

Many carry an unloaded, cased, firearm on the dashboard (thus not hidden), Many carry an unloaded, cased, firearm in the trunk.

I carry an unloaded cased firearm behind the middle seat of a minivan.

Please feel free to visit: http://www.wisconsincarry.org/default.html?pg=L

For the Wisconsin legal citations and case law.

Hope this helps, and enjoy your visit.

Carry On