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
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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.