Monday - May 18, 2009

How would you handle it?

As WISN 12 News was interviewing a West Allis man about his past arrest for carrying a gun in the open, police confronted him again Tuesday night—one day after the state’s attorney general ruled it’s legal.

Wisconsin has Open Carry. That means you can carry a gun around with you, and you don’t have to have it hidden on your person. A pistol at your hip, a rifle slung over your shoulder, a shotgun in your hands. How are the police to tell if this is any kind of a threat or not, until the shooting starts? How do you react as a shopkeeper?

Cousin Joe was carrying at the party I went to Saturday. It was in Pennsylvania, and that kind of thing is entirely legal there. It didn’t bother me a bit, but I know him. A couple people thought it was kind of strange. But he had a pistol, in a holster, mostly under his shirt. If you live in a state with open carry, how do people peaceably go about carrying long arms in a non-threatening way?

Sure, in the military everyone has a gun all the time, mostly. That’s the military. And if you’re off hunting, your fellow hunters are carrying while they’re hunting. Later on, when the stew is on the grill and the whiskey comes out, they put the guns away.

“Somebody called the police that somebody was walking around with a gun on their hip,” a West Allis police officer said.

“I would fit that description,” Krause said.

“That would be you,” a West Allis police officer said.

Police arrived up to investigate Krause while 12 News was interviewing him about his previous arrest for carrying a holstered gun on his hip outside his home. One officer saw Krause’s gun and asked what agency he’s affiliated with.

“I’m the same guy I was when you arrested me the last time,” Krause said.

The officers asked for his name and called dispatch.

“The reason I’m checking is because felons can’t have guns in Wisconsin,” West Allis police said.

Krause is not a felon. He’s a certified firearms instructor.

“Pretty much any time my pants are on, I’m armed,” Krause said.

That includes carrying a gun outside his home as Wisconsin’s attorney general has ruled is legal.

Young, a former Milwaukee police officer who represents part of Milwaukee’s north side, said he’s working on fast track legislation to clear up confusion with Wisconsin’s gun law.

“If you’re walking down the street with a gun in your hand and people can see it or you’ve got one in your holster here and people can see it, it’s going to create a disturbance,” Young said.

But until there’s a new law, the officers explained to Krause, the attorney general’s ruling is brand new to them and they’ll act accordingly.

“How it was explained to us is that if somebody calls and makes a complaint—in other words, they feel threatened—they feel it’s causing a disturbance or they feel that it’s disorderly in some fashion. They call us and we respond and we investigate it,” a West Allis police officer said.

The officers said in a different situation they would likely still order someone carrying a gun to the ground until they could make sure the situation is safe.
...
Gov. Jim Doyle hopes it won’t change how police officers respond when they see weapons.

“Our advice was people are permitted to openly carry firearms—that it wasn’t in and of itself disorderly conduct. We intentionally didn’t go into any factual-based scenarios because they’re all different,” Van Hollen said.

“I assume that local DAs and local police departments are gonna continue to act as they already have,” Doyle said.
...
Milwaukee’s police chief said he’ll go on telling his officers to take down anyone with a firearm despite Van Hollen’s finding that people can carry guns openly if they do it peacefully.

Chief Ed Flynn said officers can’t assume people are carrying guns legally in a city that has seen nearly 200 homicides in the past two years.

He said that means officers seeing anybody carrying a gun will put them on the ground, take the gun away and then decide if the person has a right to carry it.

Let’s face it: unless Wisconsin has some special detail to their open carry law that specifies pistols must be in holsters, and rifles and shotguns must have slings and be carried over the shoulder, then open carry also has to mean “I’ve got a gun in my hands”.

You can’t expect the police to suddenly develop mind reading powers. And I’m sure there are plenty of less-than-wholesome appearing people who are perfectly law abiding and normal; you can’t go all profiley on them. So, what would you do? How would you handle it? I want to hear your opinions, although right now I’m thinking Chief Flynn ought to be fired. He’s aware of the law, he’s been informed of it’s legality, and he still has decided to assume guilty and harass law abiding citizens. Um, no, I don’t think that’s the best approach. But maybe you do? Ready on the left? Ready on the right? Ready on the Firing Line!

Posted by Drew458     on 05/18/2009 at 04:16 PM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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