WI:Man Exercising Constitutional Rights Arrested near Eau Claire (open carry)

A young man was exercising his Second Amendment and Wisconsin Constitutional rights in Wisconsin when he was stopped by police, questioned and arrested for Obstruction of Justice and Disorderly Conduct.  Police allege that initial reports of Mr. Hoffman placed him within 1,000 feet of a school.  It is not clear if Mr. Hoffman was within a 1,000 feet of a school when he was accosted.

At opencarry.org, MKEgal has written some cogent comments:

3) Since the WI Supreme Court has ruled that it is NOT obstruction to refuse to give your name, or to remain silent, that charge is bogus & should never have been filed.

4) Since the law says that it is not disorderly conduct to go armed (openly or concealed, loaded or not), and that law does not specify a type of firearm, that charge is bogus & should never have been filed.

5) They have to prove that he was knowingly within 1000' of a school, and on public property.

It is unknown if Mr. Hoffman had a concealed carry permit or not .  A permit is not necessary to carry openly in Wisconsin, and a person with a permit is not required to show it to police if they are not carrying concealed.  If Mr. Hoffman had a concealed carry permit, then it was not illegal for him to be carrying within 1,000 feet of a school, because he would fall under one of the exceptions of the  infamous law.

I suspect that Mr. Hoffman will be the recipient of a considerable settlement in a few months.  That is how it has worked in a number of other open carry cases in Wisconsin, and that was before the new Shall Issue law made clear that open carrying was *not* disorderly conduct.

What is likely, is that Mr. Hoffman did not break the Gun Free School Zone law in Wisconsin, or they would have arrested him for that.  He has not yet been charged with anything, and was released.    Wisconsin law specifically states that openly carrying firearms is not disorderly conduct.  The law was changed because of numerous instances of  law enforcement agencies harassing people openly carrying firearms, charging them with disorderly conduct.

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