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Sunday, February 18, 2007
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This Has Got to Be Hard on Republicans

So this story seems to be a slam dunk for those tough on crime Republicans... another "incident" at Mayfair mall:

Criminal charges will be sought against two Milwaukee men arrested at Mayfair Mall Friday after a struggle with police sent a handgun flying over a second-floor railing, Wauwatosa Police said today. The gun did not discharge, and no one was injured.

The men, ages 18 and 19, remained in custody Saturday. Wauwatosa Police Lt. Dominic Leone said the case would be turned over to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office for possible charges of carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest and obstructing an officer.

Police responded to the mall about 8:15 p.m. on a report of a man carrying a gun in his waistband seen shopping in the Champs sporting goods store on the second floor of the mall.

But read that report again.  The men are being charged, not with starting a fight, but rather for carrying a concealed weapon, and then resisting with police after the gun was seen by someone, probably when their jacket opened while walking.  In other words, they were arrested simply for doing something that every good Republican wants you to be able to do legally... carrying a concealed weapon.  So as far as I can tell, the only outrage ought to be over the fact that we don't have a concealed carry law yet, not over any "incident" at Mayfair Mall.  Make up your mind will yah?

# Posted at 3:56 PM by Nick  |  Comment Feed Link 6 Comments  |  No Trackbacks

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Sunday, February 18, 2007 6:21:53 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
What is so hard Nick. Yes, honest law abiding citizens should be allowed to carry a concealed gun, just like the Wisconsin Constitution says we can. The difference here is, the guy in Mayfair was breaking the law... so by definition, he was in the wrong.

If Wisconsin would join the other 48 states that allow concealed carry and if this guy was eligible and licensed to carry that gun, and was breaking no other law he would have had no reason to resist arrest, would he?

** By the way, in Firefox, the text box for the comments is 1,017 pixels wide, and if I didn't have two monitors to stretch across, it could be really annoying ;-)
Sunday, February 18, 2007 8:37:23 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
From the story, it seems the only reason that a police officer had even begun an encounter was because someone "saw" a gun in the first place. After all, the only charges that being filed (according to this story at least) are concealed carry, and charges related to his encounter with the police officer. Nothing having to do with assault on anyone else.

I just think this points out a particularly tricky issue with concealed carry... that most people who see a gun automatically think criminal, and that police see the same... whether its legal to carry or not.
Sunday, February 18, 2007 8:37:46 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
BTW... I'm working on the text box rendering issue... it happens in IE as well.
Sunday, February 18, 2007 8:42:50 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
I'm not seeing a rendering issue at all in Firefox 2.0.0.1....
Sunday, February 18, 2007 9:39:03 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
I'm running Firefox 2.0.0.1 as well, and the text box runs wayyyyy off the page LOL.

Can you set the comments textarea form to something like...

textarea rows="10" cols="60"

Just a guess, I don't know how Das Blog (I think that's what you use) works
Monday, February 19, 2007 10:43:01 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
"I just think this points out a particularly tricky issue with concealed carry... that most people who see a gun automatically think criminal, and that police see the same... whether its legal to carry or not."

Currently, it's completely illegal to carry a concealed weapon in Wisconsin, so by definition anyone doing it IS a criminal.

In most states where there are concealed carry laws, showing or drawing your weapon (even mistakenly) without good reason is cause for having your permit revoked, so people who carry tend to be very, very circumspect. If you are seen with a gun, the police will treat you with caution and disarm you (as they should), but they don't assume you're a criminal. In my experience, if you present them with your permit they'll apologize and maybe lecture you on the necessity for making sure your weapon is properly concealed.

When I carried a gun legally, I was NEVER spotted while carrying. And the one time I had to produce my permit it was when the gun was found cased and unloaded in the trunk of my car.
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