Last week this newspaper asked several local law enforcement officials and state legislators just what they thought about the idea of open carry in Wisconsin, or the ability to publicly carry a firearm in plain view.
In his answer (they all accompany this column on page 10), Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Eagle River) said he was perplexed by all the attention being given to the question.
More about Sen. Holperin's answer later, but let's clarify now why recent controversies over the issue need to be broadcast: the attack on the right of citizens to openly carry their legal firearms, as well as on the rights of hunters to do so without fear of unreasonable seizures, represents an extraordinary and unprecedented attempt by some law enforcement agencies to claim unconstitutional grants of power for themselves.
What's at stake are not just gun rights - though those are very much on the table - but our Bill of Rights protections.
Recent incidents involving Mark Palan of Highland and Brad Krause of West Allis, as well as others, have been ignored by the mainstream media and by legislators who apparently can't see the forest for the trees, but how they play out will most certainly answer a question of paramount concern:
Is Wisconsin a free state or a police state?
Mr. Palan, of course, was thrown out of the Department of Natural Resources' hunter education program because, as an instructor, he had the audacity to teach his students that they have civil rights. Meaning that, in this country, law-abiding citizens don't have to hand over their firearms just because a warden asks them to, for no reason and without any explanation.
Ah, but they do, the DNR's bloated bullies bellowed. Not only that, but the agency carried its reasoning to an absurd conclusion: When you are approached by law enforcement, the DNR exhorted, "no matter what the situation is," you should "do exactly what the officer tells you to do." Period. ...
Read the rest here.
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