Big River Leather
Regular Member
I wrote the following email to my legislators. I received a very positive reply from Representative Knudson. I've not heard from Senator Harsdorf yet but we have communicated in the past and she does support concealed carry legislation. I'm just not sure of her stance on Constitutional Carry
Representative Knudson and Senator Harsdorf,
I'm writing this overdue email to encourage your support of a Constitutional Carry Bill for the State of WI. It is common knowledge that WI is ripe for some type of concealed Carry Legislation, but it is my hope that if we travel down that road we make the right moves. I've attached a document drafted by Wisconsin Carry, Inc which highlights the options we face. I'll express my concerns which are detailed in this document, not necessarily in the order listed there.
Repeal Wisconsin's concealed carry ban [s.941.23]
Bring WI into the 21st century and afford the right to lawful citizens to protect themselves as the constitution intended. By implementing this change with constitutional carry citizens would be able to protect themselves just as they are allowed to now by open carry, only with the right to carry concealed.
Repeal Wisconsin's Gun Free School Zone Act [s.948.605?]
While the intentions of this law are good, it is absurd that a legally carried gun (whether open or concealed) cannot be carried within 1,000 feet of a school. I live in the small town of Prescott WI. I don't think there is a place within the city limits that I would be legal to carry a handgun because of the proximity to the schools in town. I would support legislation that would ban handguns on school property if it had to be, but would even prefer that was not restricted. The reason for this is the following - I have a concealed carry permit for the State of MN which I conduct most of my business in, both personal and professional. I exercise my right to protect myself by carrying a handgun on a daily basis. Both of my children have been or are schooled in MN at private institutions. I often am called to pick them up or deal with some type of situation at the school, often unplanned. By law I cannot go onto the school grounds with my handgun on my person or in my vehicle. When I am out and about on my daily routine, I have no option. This can greatly restrict the right for one to protect themselves with a legal firearm. Even legislation that would allow for an unloaded cased weapon would be better than a complete ban.
Repeal or alter the Vehicle Transport Statute [s.167.31]
Much along the same lines as the case stated above, one cannot realistically exercise their right to protect themselves within their own vehicle if the weapon has to be unloaded and cased. It also goes beyond an inconvenience for a person to have to unloaded and case then uncased and reload their weapon each time they get in and out of their vehicle in order to stay protected. It also would create a greater opportunity for an accidental discharge with all of the handling that would require. The safest place for a firearm, next to a safe, is in a holster.
I'm looking forward to what appears to be a positive swing in Wisconsin's change. Let's set the bar high rather than just playing catchup with the rest of the country.
Thank you!
I received this reply from Dean.
Scott,
Thank you for contacting me. I am a supporter of Constitutional Carry and am looking forward to a bill during this legislative session. Please provide a phone number so we can discuss your specific concerns as it relates to Carry laws.
Sincerely,
S T A T E R E P R E S E N T A T I V E
DEAN KNUDSON
3 0 T H A S S E M B L Y D I S T R I C T
P.O. Box 8952 • Madison, WI 53708-8952
(608) 266-1526 • Fax: (608) 282-3630
Toll-Free: (888) 529-0030
30th Assembly District: (715) 690-9225
Rep.Knudson@legis.wi.gov
Dean called me yesterday and we had a very good talk. He said that many of the Reps wanted to take the old bill that Doyle vetoed and run that through and be done with it. Thankfully, due to him and some others, the convinced them to hold off. They feel they can do much better than the old bill.
The biggest obstacle is that many, even most of the new representatives, even republicans that are in fair of CCW legislation, are unaware of Constitutional Carry. There needs to be some education from other reps and more importantly, their constituents about why constitutional carry is so important and makes more sense than a permit based system. Their biggest objection is training, or lack thereof that goes along with a constitutional carry system. My comment to Dean was that very few if any of these legislators have ever been through a permit required CCW class. I have. I possess a MN CHL and had to take the class. It was a highly rated class that puts thousands of "students" through every year. While I found most of the class interesting, I wouldn't call it "training". The majority of it related to how to handle a threatening situation and what do do should an incident occur. At the end was a marksmanship test. There was no real instruction or training on firing the firearm, just pass or fail on the test which determined whether or not you were permit eligible.
So, if the Reps think there would be pandemonium without required training, I'd have to disagree. There are absolutely quality courses out there and the class I took followed the guidelines and requirements mandated by the state of MN. I would encourage making these classes readily available with contact info for classes in your area, but not mandatory.
We also discussed that he would like to get constitutional carry passed now, then work towards amending the WI Constitution to include the right to concealed carry. This process is much more time consuming, but is more permanent once it is passed. It requires passing the house and senate, I think he said again after the next election, then it would go to referendum for the residents of the state of WI to vote on.
We talked about the School Zone Gun Free law. His words were - "That's just dumb."
There is a lot of work to be done and people really need to contact their reps. They are willing to talk and listen, but to get this done right, a little work from everybody will go a long, long way.
Representative Knudson and Senator Harsdorf,
I'm writing this overdue email to encourage your support of a Constitutional Carry Bill for the State of WI. It is common knowledge that WI is ripe for some type of concealed Carry Legislation, but it is my hope that if we travel down that road we make the right moves. I've attached a document drafted by Wisconsin Carry, Inc which highlights the options we face. I'll express my concerns which are detailed in this document, not necessarily in the order listed there.
Repeal Wisconsin's concealed carry ban [s.941.23]
Bring WI into the 21st century and afford the right to lawful citizens to protect themselves as the constitution intended. By implementing this change with constitutional carry citizens would be able to protect themselves just as they are allowed to now by open carry, only with the right to carry concealed.
Repeal Wisconsin's Gun Free School Zone Act [s.948.605?]
While the intentions of this law are good, it is absurd that a legally carried gun (whether open or concealed) cannot be carried within 1,000 feet of a school. I live in the small town of Prescott WI. I don't think there is a place within the city limits that I would be legal to carry a handgun because of the proximity to the schools in town. I would support legislation that would ban handguns on school property if it had to be, but would even prefer that was not restricted. The reason for this is the following - I have a concealed carry permit for the State of MN which I conduct most of my business in, both personal and professional. I exercise my right to protect myself by carrying a handgun on a daily basis. Both of my children have been or are schooled in MN at private institutions. I often am called to pick them up or deal with some type of situation at the school, often unplanned. By law I cannot go onto the school grounds with my handgun on my person or in my vehicle. When I am out and about on my daily routine, I have no option. This can greatly restrict the right for one to protect themselves with a legal firearm. Even legislation that would allow for an unloaded cased weapon would be better than a complete ban.
Repeal or alter the Vehicle Transport Statute [s.167.31]
Much along the same lines as the case stated above, one cannot realistically exercise their right to protect themselves within their own vehicle if the weapon has to be unloaded and cased. It also goes beyond an inconvenience for a person to have to unloaded and case then uncased and reload their weapon each time they get in and out of their vehicle in order to stay protected. It also would create a greater opportunity for an accidental discharge with all of the handling that would require. The safest place for a firearm, next to a safe, is in a holster.
I'm looking forward to what appears to be a positive swing in Wisconsin's change. Let's set the bar high rather than just playing catchup with the rest of the country.
Thank you!
I received this reply from Dean.
Scott,
Thank you for contacting me. I am a supporter of Constitutional Carry and am looking forward to a bill during this legislative session. Please provide a phone number so we can discuss your specific concerns as it relates to Carry laws.
Sincerely,
S T A T E R E P R E S E N T A T I V E
DEAN KNUDSON
3 0 T H A S S E M B L Y D I S T R I C T
P.O. Box 8952 • Madison, WI 53708-8952
(608) 266-1526 • Fax: (608) 282-3630
Toll-Free: (888) 529-0030
30th Assembly District: (715) 690-9225
Rep.Knudson@legis.wi.gov
Dean called me yesterday and we had a very good talk. He said that many of the Reps wanted to take the old bill that Doyle vetoed and run that through and be done with it. Thankfully, due to him and some others, the convinced them to hold off. They feel they can do much better than the old bill.
The biggest obstacle is that many, even most of the new representatives, even republicans that are in fair of CCW legislation, are unaware of Constitutional Carry. There needs to be some education from other reps and more importantly, their constituents about why constitutional carry is so important and makes more sense than a permit based system. Their biggest objection is training, or lack thereof that goes along with a constitutional carry system. My comment to Dean was that very few if any of these legislators have ever been through a permit required CCW class. I have. I possess a MN CHL and had to take the class. It was a highly rated class that puts thousands of "students" through every year. While I found most of the class interesting, I wouldn't call it "training". The majority of it related to how to handle a threatening situation and what do do should an incident occur. At the end was a marksmanship test. There was no real instruction or training on firing the firearm, just pass or fail on the test which determined whether or not you were permit eligible.
So, if the Reps think there would be pandemonium without required training, I'd have to disagree. There are absolutely quality courses out there and the class I took followed the guidelines and requirements mandated by the state of MN. I would encourage making these classes readily available with contact info for classes in your area, but not mandatory.
We also discussed that he would like to get constitutional carry passed now, then work towards amending the WI Constitution to include the right to concealed carry. This process is much more time consuming, but is more permanent once it is passed. It requires passing the house and senate, I think he said again after the next election, then it would go to referendum for the residents of the state of WI to vote on.
We talked about the School Zone Gun Free law. His words were - "That's just dumb."
There is a lot of work to be done and people really need to contact their reps. They are willing to talk and listen, but to get this done right, a little work from everybody will go a long, long way.
