Wisconsin open carry

From JPFO, a follow up to this post, in which a citizen in Wisconsin, on his own property, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for his holstered, openly carried handgun (Wisconsin has no provision for concealed carry by "ordinary" citizens):

It's less than a week until the Constitution gets another court hearing. To recap what happened, in August 2008 Brad Krause was arrested at gunpoint in West Allis, Wisconsin while planting trees in his yard. The reason: he lawfully possessed a holstered weapon. (Full story at: http://www.jpfo.org/alerts02/alert20081212b.htm )

His first hearing was December 16, where the story started to unfold under oath. The prosecution admitted into evidence a small semi-automatic handgun, positive retention holster, and self-defense ammunition, each item being the type of equipment police officers are known to use for their own protection, not the sort of thing criminals tend to carry.

The first witness was the man who had called the police. Normally this person is the victim of a robbery, mugging, or other violent attack, but in this case the man testified he called the police to find out if a person could legally carry a handgun within city limits. He went on to say that although he thinks only police officers should carry weapons for self defense, it was never his intention "for Brad, excuse me, I mean Mr. Krause, to end up in court." He testified that "Mr. Krause" is a nice guy, they get along fine, and the first time they met was when "Mr. Krause" came over to help him dig his car out of the snow. There was no sign of animosity between the neighbors who apparently are still on a first-name basis.

The next witness was the first officer to respond, who said he saw a man with a gun and immediately called for backup. A back-and-forth line of questioning ensued:

Attorney: "Officer, you were the first person to see Mr. Krause in his yard, correct?"
Officer: "Correct."

Attorney: "What was he doing when you saw him in his yard?"
Officer: "I believe he was planting a tree."

Attorney: "Was he in any way handling the gun?"
Officer: "No."

Attorney: "Was the gun plainly and openly carried?"
Officer: "Yes."

Attorney: "You had no question that was a handgun on his hip?"
Officer: "Yes, I knew it was a handgun on his hip in a holster."

Attorney: "And he was not handling it, waving it, doing anything with it?"
Officer: "No. I believe he had a shovel in his hand and was in the process of planting a tree."

The questioning continued, eventually with the officer testifying Mr. Krause was cooperative the entire time, and never used any profanity or even raised his voice. ...

Read the rest here.