A letter to the DePere Electeds & the Green Bay Press Gazette

Seems the City Electeds of DePere, WI are all panicky that concealed carry is legal in their state now and are all in a hurry to find exciting new ways to ban it in their fair city. My response, more or less, below.

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The sky is not falling.

Wisconsin is the 49th state in the union to end its absolute prohibition on concealed carry, with 37 of those states "shall-issue" states basing issuance on objective minimum standards (like Wisconsin). Meet the standards, you get your permit/license. Don't meet the standards? No permit/license.

In the 49 states with some form of issue, and the 37 states with "shall-issue" there would appear to be a distinct absence of the "blood in the streets" and "wild west" scenarios with lawful concealed carry in place that loom large in the deluded fantasies of opponents. Historically, folks willing to jump through the hoops of the various jurisdictions to lawfully carry have significantly lower rates of violent crime per capita than the general public.

Washington, my home state, has had shall-issue based on objective standards lawful concealed carry since 1961. Our world hasn't ended. And there are only four officially naughty kinds of places where folks with CPL/CCW are legally barred from carry.

1) Areas of establishments serving liquor restricted to persons 21+ only.
2) The secure area of mental hospitals.
3) The secure portion of a jail or prison.
4) Courtrooms.

(2) - (4) have worked out well for us, and make a fair amount of sense. (1) is a bit more questionable given the evidence available when we observe states that have lawful bar carry for CPL-holders (usually with an intoxication qualifier similar or identical to the local DUI standard, though the absence of this standard does not appear to increase casualties). Oregon, for instance, allows bar carry and does not impose an intoxication standard - but oddly, bloodshed isn't occurring at any greater rate than in Washington, which forbids bar carry. That would tend to argue that banning bar carry is an infringement without a benefit - one that results in firearms being left in cars and other less than ideally secure locations while owners go to the bars to hang out with friends.

If De Pere officials wish to act rationally, rather than out of emotionalism and panic, they might do well to observe how things have worked out where we've been doing this for awhile. In Washington, for over 40 years, it's been legal to carry concealed firearms in City Halls, firehouses, city pools, the community centers, well and pump stations and municipal service centers state wide - without world shattering consequences.

I find it difficult to believe that the people of DePere specifically, or Wisconsin generally, are so uniquely stupid/evil/incompetent as to make similar provisions more dangerous than we observe with Washingtonians.

Best of Wishes,


*snip*

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To contact DePere, WI leadership *POLITELY* please feel free to use the below

Last, First	Title	Telephone	Facsimile	Email
Bauer, Kevin	Alderperson - Third District	920-309-1436
Boyd, James	Alderperson - First District	920-336-0305
Donovan, Michael	Alderperson - Third District	920-336-9471
Heuvelmans, Robert	Alderperson - Fourth District	920-336-7822
Lueck, Larry	Alderperson - First District	920-339-8339
Robinson, Daniel	Alderperson - Second District	920-347-0828
Van Vonderen, Kathleen	Alderperson - Fourth District	920-336-1847
Walsh, Michael	City Mayor	920-339-4040
Wilmet, Robert	Alderperson - Second District	920-336-6354