Area police stand against concealed carry By Lee Reinsch
Some local law enforcement agencies are joining the Wisconsin Anti Violence Effort against a new concealed-carry act even before its introduced.
We are not anti-gun, anti-hunter or anti-NRA, Green Bay Police Chief Craig Van Schyndle said at a press event held by WAVE at the Brown County Courthouse in Green Bay. This is an officer-safety issue and a community-safety issue. Green Bay, Appleton and Brown County are very safe communities, and concealed carry is a very dangerous proposition.
Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, said he plans to finish drafting the Personal Protection Act in a couple of weeks. It would give law-abiding citizens over the age of 21 with no felony record or violent misdemeanors the right to carry a concealed weapon upon undergoing a training and safety course comparable to that offered by the National Rifle Association, he said.
But Jeri Bonavia of Milwaukee, president of WAVE, doesnt think its a good idea.
Arming more people with more guns is not going to make us safer, Bonavia said.
Bonavia said she comes from a family that hunts and uses guns and isnt against their use.
There are so many reasonable things that we could do with respect to gun laws, such as require criminal background checks for gun transfers, she said.
Some other solutions WAVE suggests:
Giving law enforcement an effective fingerprinting system to trace guns used in homicides and other shootings.
Tightening up the law to make sure assault weapons and sniper rifles designed for military use arent marketed and sold to the public.
Closing loopholes that allow under-age people to purchase handguns.
Including guns in consumer-safety regulations so the making, distributing and selling of them are overseen.
Appleton Police Chief Richard Myers called the concealed-carry issue political and said if Wisconsin does pass a concealed carry act, the public could expect a more aggressive style in policing.
If we already have such safe communities, why would we want to change that? Myers said.
If it does become legal to carry concealed weapons in Wisconsin, expect to see a more aggressive style of policing, Myers said.
Currently 46 states allow people to carry concealed weapons, Zien said.
(To allow) law-abiding citizens, who are trained in protecting themselves, (to carry concealed weapons) is common sense. What has happened in other states is the angelic factor the criminals, druggies and wackies dont commit crimes because they dont know whos armed and whos not. In every state that has passed this law, there has been a dramatic decrease in crime, Zien said.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/local_22121330.shtml*FW Note:Oooohh, we gotta protect them officers, the citizens are on their own, but bu all means...gotta protect them officers...
And remember, law abiding citizens who lawfully carry weapons need to experience a more aggressive style in policing.
But noooo... we're not anti-gun...
(
We're anti-citizen.)
:?