Area chief decries concealed carry By Steven Elbow
A Wisconsin Police Chiefs Association official Thursday blasted a plan to allow citizens to carry concealed guns as bad public policy.
"We simply do not see a correlation between more guns on the street and a safer public," said Oregon Police Chief Doug Pettit, who is legislative chair of the association.
Pettit, who just this week has been dealing with a drive-by shooting in Oregon that landed three men in a hospital, was speaking at a press conference organized by the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort.
He said a survey of association members showed that two-thirds of its more than 600 members oppose concealed carry in any form, and 89 percent oppose legislation similar or less restrictive to an earlier one vetoed by Gov. Jim Doyle. An effort to override that veto failed by one vote in January, 2004.
State Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, has said he plans to introduce a bill allowing anyone over 21 with no felony record and no violent misdemeanors to carry a weapon.
Police officials across the state have been appearing with WAVE members to speak against the proposal.
WAVE Executive Director Jeri Bonavia said Zien has announced that his proposal will remove restrictions included in the proposal shot down by Doyle, including carrying guns at hospitals, children's sporting events and places that serve alcohol.
"Not only are they introducing a bill that Wisconsin citizens don't want, this one will be worse," she said.
While the La Crosse Tribune today reported that Zien said his bill would not include several restrictions included in last bill, his spokesman John Hogan today would not confirm that.
He said he would have no comment on the specifics of the bill until it was actually drafted.
Bonavia, who said legislative proponents of the bill are in the pocket of the gun lobby, said polls have consistently shown that most citizens oppose non-restricted concealed carry laws.
"We want fewer, not more, hidden loaded guns on our streets," she said.
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=50304&ntpid=1*FW Note:Everyone knows that the peasants can't be trusted...
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