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Man Allegedly Drove Drunk With Gun Through Greenfield

NoTolerance

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Mar 11, 2012
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292
Location
Milwaukee, WI
http://greenfield.patch.com/article...-through-greenfield?ncid=newsltuspatc00000001

So having a loaded firearm in the car automatically means you get charged with "endangering safety with use of a dangerous weapon?"

941.20  Endangering safety by use of dangerous weapon.
(1) Whoever does any of the following is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor:
(a) Endangers another's safety by the negligent operation or handling of a dangerous weapon; or
(b) Operates or goes armed with a firearm while he or she is under the influence of an intoxicant; or
(bm) Operates or goes armed with a firearm while he or she has a detectable amount of a restricted controlled substance in his or her blood. A defendant has a defense to any action under this paragraph that is based on the defendant allegedly having a detectable amount of methamphetamine, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in his or her blood, if he or she proves by a preponderance of the evidence that at the time of the incident or occurrence he or she had a valid prescription for methamphetamine or one of its metabolic precursors, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.
 
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protias

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My question still stands. So when you disarm to go into a bar and leave it in the car, this is what you are going to be charged with? So how are you to store it?
 

Old Grump

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Jan 22, 2010
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Blue River, Wisconsin, USA
Right charge, wrong weapon. From the looks of the other stories that week Greenfield is an exciting place to be if you are a police officer or an innocent pedestrian. Man brought it on himself looking for the gun while talking to the officer. Me suspects an alcohol problem and a somewhat diminished lack of common sense. No sympathy for him and I hope he loses his gun and his license to drive. He made it look bad for all of us not just himself.
 

NoTolerance

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Mar 11, 2012
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Milwaukee, WI
My question still stands. So when you disarm to go into a bar and leave it in the car, this is what you are going to be charged with? So how are you to store it?

Technically, that should be a non-issue, right? You shouldn't be driving while intoxicated.

I suppose if you really want to play it safe (assuming you're not intoxicated but have been drinking), the best course of action would be to leave it encased and out of reach.
 

Law abider

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Aug 17, 2011
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Ellsworth Wisconsin
Right charge, wrong weapon. From the looks of the other stories that week Greenfield is an exciting place to be if you are a police officer or an innocent pedestrian. Man brought it on himself looking for the gun while talking to the officer. Me suspects an alcohol problem and a somewhat diminished lack of common sense. No sympathy for him and I hope he loses his gun and his license to drive. He made it look bad for all of us not just himself.

Hope he does not have a CCL. That makes us CCL holders look bad. Booze, drugs, guns never mix well. Because of my world view, I never drink in a bar or in public. yep 941.20. Too bad.
 
M

McX

Guest
dont take your gun out drinking with you, it cant hold it's liquor, and might do something stupid.
 

E6chevron

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Oct 8, 2011
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Milwaukee Wisconsin
From the article about the Aug. 15, 2012 Greenfield arrest:

Eventually the officer called for backup and Emanuele was placed under arrest. He told the officers he had a gun in the passenger side door compartment. Police found it loaded with three bullets.

Emanuele was taken to the Greenfield Police Department where he failed field sobriety tests and had a blood alcohol level of 0.16, which is twice the legal limit to drive in Wisconsin.

I would expect the same definition of "goes armed with a firearm" that is used in jury instructions for violation of the Concealed Carry statute, and came from the conclusion in the State v. Walls 1994 Court of Appeals case

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_c...4&q=526+N.W.2d+765&hl=en&as_sdt=4,50&as_vis=1

[3,4] ... (1) the weapon is located inside a vehicle and is within the defendant's reach;...

A Supreme Court case also weighed in on this issue of "going armed with":

http://www.wicourts.gov/sc/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&seqNo=17572
In re the Return of Property in: State of Wisconsin v. Carlos Perez:

¶28 The exact same principle is shown in Wis. Stat.
§ 941.20, entitled "Endangering Safety by [the] use of dangerous
weapon." This section reads in part:
...

¶29 Operating, handling, and intentionally pointing imply
active utilization, but the phrase "goes armed with" is the same
phrase that appears in the carrying a concealed and dangerous
weapon statute, and the latter statute requires nothing more
than conscious possession.
All these words and phrases fall
under the heading "Endangering safety by use of a dangerous
weapon." See also Wis. Stat. § 941.26 ("Machine guns and other
weapons; use in certain cases; penalty."). Possession is listed
in § 941.26 under the heading "use."

¶30 To sum up, the dictionary definitions of the noun
"use" include "the power or ability to use something," and that
meaning of the word is broad enough——"elastic" enough in the
language of Judge Nettesheim——to include conscious possession
with an ability to use. "Going armed with a concealed and
dangerous weapon" clearly adds up to conscious possession with
an ability to use. Thus, going armed with a concealed and
dangerous weapon is one example of "commit[ting] a crime
involving the use of the dangerous weapon."

Per the above, don't expect to get your firearm back, if convicted of 941.20 (Endangering safety by use of a dangerous weapon) or 941.23 (Carrying Concealed Weapon), even though the weapon was not "used" in the crime, in the normal meaning of the word used. This foreiture of the weapon, or not. is governed by WI statute 968.20 Return of property seized.

https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/968/20

-------------------------------------------------------------

Before drinking alcohol, I would suggest that you have the firearm unloaded, locked/encased, and out of reach in the vehicle. I have no advice for how you can legally get the firearm into your home, after arriving there, if you are under the influence. Get someone sober to move it, I guess.
 
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MKEgal

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Jan 8, 2010
Messages
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in front of my computer, WI
don't expect to get your firearm back, if convicted of 941.20 (Endangering safety by use of a dangerous weapon) or 941.23 (Carrying Concealed Weapon)
It's worse than that... if the firearm is present during any crime (for which you are convicted), & the police find & confiscate it, it will be forfeit & destroyed.
Never mind if you were possessing it or merely transporting it; if it were actually used in a crime or simply U&E in the trunk of the car; if it's present it's toast.

I've seen a judge refuse to return a pistol that was in the trunk when the operator was stopped for DUI. (He had been convicted before petitioning for the property to be returned.)
This was waaay pre-cc in WI, but she's still on the bench, despite her unethical acts in other cases.
 

bspiller

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Dec 6, 2011
Messages
29
Location
Burlington, WI
So if you have a valid prescription for controlled substances you can still carry legally from what I'm gathering here? While it may be for pain or other reasons?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
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GreenCountyPete

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Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
145
Location
Green County, Wisconsin, USA
surprised that they didn't charge him with DUI also , or maybe they did and the article just ignores it

now what really has me confused is how you can afford an Audi and to get drunk on what were probably 6 dollar drinks x6=$36 but not enough bullets to fill your gun

very seriously out of line priorities

also makes me think of a line from a movie ," I am not as afraid of the country that wants a hundred nuclear bombs as the guy who only wants 1"
 
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