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Eau Claire Wi prohibits open carry

chuckster

New member
Joined
Oct 30, 2011
Messages
1
Location
Durand
Greetings...I'm new to the forums and this is my first post.

I was going through Eau Claire's ordinances, and first, I must state, I'm not a lawyer.

That being said, ordinance 9.32.040 F states the following:

"No person, except a law enforcement officer, may carry a firearm on any city street, sidewalk, alley or other city property (other than locations prohibited under this section), unless it is unloaded and enclosed in a carrying case."

This seems to go against state statute 66.0409 , which states:

"Except as provided in subs. (3) and (4), no political subdivision may
enact an ordinance or adopt a resolution that regulates the sale, purchase,
purchase delay, transfer, ownership, use, keeping, possession, bearing,
transportation, licensing, permitting, registration or taxation of any
firearm or part of a firearm, including ammunition and reloader components,
unless the ordinance or resolution is the same as or similar to, and no more
stringent than, a state statute."

So, am I correct here in seeing that the City of Eau Claire is more restrictive than state statute with this ordinance, or am I missing some context clues? ;)

I have contacted the president of the city council, who forwarded it on to the city attorney, Steve Nick, who stated that the ordinance is in full compliance with state statute.

I have also talked with local police officers and they have stated that the ordinance is unenforceable.

Which is it?

Thanks, and what a great resource here at opencarry.org!
 

xd40 neenah

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2010
Messages
50
Location
Neenah, WI
Welcome! IANAL, but I would agree with the police officers. The state law you quoted applies. Another reason is that if the officer thinks its unenforceable, its not going to be enforced.

Carry on!
 

Shotgun

Wisconsin Carry, Inc.
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Messages
2,668
Location
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
When I researched the 40 largest cities in Wisconsin a couple of years ago I found that about half of them had similar ordinances. I doubt many, if any, have removed that language since then. I wouldn't worry about it, it's not enforceable.
 

BROKENSPROKET

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2010
Messages
2,199
Location
Trempealeau County
I am from Eau Claire and hosted the Open Carry Picnic in Eau Claire in 2010 and I will tell you that ordinance is not be enforced and will not be enofrced. Dozens of people Open carry in Eau Claire on a dialy basis. No one has had any trouble since Lance Galloway. I and several others have OC'd in the presense of LEO's without any issue.
 

AaronS

Regular Member
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
1,497
Location
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
I am from Eau Claire and hosted the Open Carry Picnic in Eau Claire in 2010 and I will tell you that ordinance is not be enforced and will not be enofrced. Dozens of people Open carry in Eau Claire on a dialy basis. No one has had any trouble since Lance Galloway. I and several others have OC'd in the presense of LEO's without any issue.

Please don't get me wrong, but if your local area has some "unenforced" or even better still "unenforceable" law on it's books, why not work yo see it changed or removed?
If open carry is accepted by "the powers that be" in Eau Claire, why the hard time removing the bad old law?
 

Shotgun

Wisconsin Carry, Inc.
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Messages
2,668
Location
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Please don't get me wrong, but if your local area has some "unenforced" or even better still "unenforceable" law on it's books, why not work yo see it changed or removed?
If open carry is accepted by "the powers that be" in Eau Claire, why the hard time removing the bad old law?

I've asked that question a number of times in Madison and generally get very little response. My impression? I think part of it is that many city council members are hoping that preemption will go away someday and they'll be able to start enforcing those anti-gun ordinances once again without having to pass them again. I think the other part is that anti-gun people simply cannot bring themselves to cast any vote favorable to gun rights, even if that vote is more symbolic in its effect than real.
 

BROKENSPROKET

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2010
Messages
2,199
Location
Trempealeau County
Please don't get me wrong, but if your local area has some "unenforced" or even better still "unenforceable" law on it's books, why not work yo see it changed or removed?
If open carry is accepted by "the powers that be" in Eau Claire, why the hard time removing the bad old law?

I grew up in and lived in Eau Claire until 1991. I have lived 30 minutes south of Eau Claire since. I am not a constituent. We did have a petition to have it repealed at the OC Picnic and that got handed off to residents of Eau Claire. I don't know what happened with the effort after that. The county that I have lived in for the past 20 years, removed every single firearm ordinance when 66.0409 was passed and pressured every municipality in the county to do so aswell. State Statutes is all they enforce is this county when it comes to firearms violations.
 
Last edited:

bmwguy11

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
461
Location
wisconsin
If they say it's within compliance of state law, ask them what statute. Since pre-emption says they can't have anything more restrictive than state law, have them cite the state law that bans open carry on city streets etc.
 
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