Concealed Wisconsin continues to support the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms without infringement by the government, including a licensing process that is expensive to maintain and potentially over reaching in a more divisive political environment (A Democrat Governor).
In a perfect world, I believe Wisconsin should adopt a constitutional carry model with a licensing option for those who would like to travel to other reciprocal states. Similar to the Wisconsin’s Open Carry Law, which doesn’t require law abiding citizens who can legally own gun to request a permission slip to protect themselves from violent criminals.
I am pleased, however, that after decades of grassroots efforts and a multitude of vetoed bills from previous administrations, Wisconsin finally has a means for law abiding citizens to adequately defend themselves from the every growing violent society that exists today.
On August 16th, the Wisconsin Legislature’s rules committee voted to extend the temporary regulations that enacted Wisconsin’s concealed carry law, Act 35 – through mid-October.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice wrote the temporary rules last fall, so the new concealed carry law would have standards in place to issue or deny licenses to applicants.
The regulations included allowing anyone who met the rule’s standards – 21 years or older who can legally possess a firearm, proof of training, resident of the State, etc. to apply for a concealed carry licenses.
The emergency rules were provided after Republican lawmakers took issue with the portion of the regulation that required applicants receive at least 4 hours of training. Lawmakers said, “the concealed carry statutes don’t set out a minimum training time requirement.” The Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules suspended that portion of the rules. It also suspended sections that required a completion certificate with an instructor’s signature, contact information and location of training.
The temporary rules were set to expire on Saturday August 18, 2012, but DOJ officials requested the rules committee to extend them by 60 days, so officials can finalize permanent rules.
The rules committee voted 10-0 to extend the rules through Oct. 16.
Democrats on the committee expressed their discontent that the rules were weak, but they agreed that by not extending the extension would remove the DOJ of its authority to revoke permits. Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, the committee’s co-chair, said future discussions would be more ‘robust’ when the committee sees DOJ’s permanent regulations.
The would be ‘permanent’ rules submitted to Gov. Scott Walker raised red flags for several members of gun rights groups in the state, who contended that the new rules would inhibit individuals and trainers from receiving and providing the training they feel they need to best prepare to carry a weapon for self defense.
New standards include: limited class sizes to no more than 50 students and requiring additional instruction on the use of deadly force and how to avoid violent situations. The proposed regulations would also reduce application fees from $37 to $30, which hasn’t seemed to upset too many people.
Governor Walker confirmed that his office is reviewing the proposal, but would not say if they supported the new rules. If the Governor approves of the rules, it would move to committees in the Assembly and Senate for consideration, but the rules committee would have the final say on implementation.
Andy Anderson
Concealed Wisconsin Radio
