Wisconsin Poll: Should Wisconsin Tighten or Loosen its Gun Laws

 

Link to the poll at the Baraboo News Republic

A Baraboo Wisconsin paper is running an Internet poll on whether Wisconsin should tighten or loosen its gun laws.  Such polls do a good job of measuring voter intensity, or how strongly groups in favor or aginst such measures feel.  They measure how many in each group feel strongly enough about an issue to bother to vote in an Internet poll.

Second Amendment supporters have long shown extraordinarily intense support in such polls, with results commonly being 3-7 times in favor of the Second Amendment, and against more infringements on it.

This poll is unusual.  Instead of talking about a particular issue, such as "Should Students be allowed to Exercise Second Amendment Rights on Campus?" or "Should it be illegal for People to Carry Pocket Knives?", this poll simply asks if laws about guns should be "tighter" or "looser".

Second Amendment supporters have come to recognize such code.  It presumes operates of the knowledge of the respondent, not off of actual legislation.   It is more a measure of whether the respondent thinks that the government is good at protecting people, or if people believe that government is better at protecting criminals.

What is the actual state of Wisconsin gun law?  Wisconsin has made great progress in its gun laws in the last few years.  Wisconsin passed a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to keep and bear arms in 1998.  Liberal Supreme Court justices did everything they could to limit the effect of the amendment.   Wisconsin was the second to the last state to pass a concealed carry permit law, in 2011.   When that law was passed, it contained a provision that recognized that openly carrying a firearm was *not* disorderly conduct.  In the last year, Wisconsin reformed its gun laws to eliminate the requirement to wait 48 hours before purchasing a pistol.

Second Amendment supporters see many opportunities for further reform.  Out of state residents are not allowed to obtain Wisconsin carry permits.  Why is a mystery, as it would bring significant revenues to Wisconsin, with virtually no problems.  Out of state residents can carry in Wisconsin from 36 of 50 states.

When act 35 passed in 2011, it removed a prohibition in vehicles.  By oversight, this only applied to handguns.   The Department of Natural Resources has interpreted that to mean the loaded long guns may not be carried "in" vehicles, even though loaded handguns are not prohibited.  This is a serious problem for gun safety.  One of the most dangerous times while using firearms is while loading or unloading them.  This law requires that long guns be loaded and unloaded with every change in hunting location.  It should be reformed.

Wisconsin also has a statue that "mirrors"  federal law by prohibiting carry or possession of a firearm within 1000 feet of a school, with some exceptions.  This law has no valid purpose, except to entrap citizens who are exercising their Second Amendment rights.

Concealed carry permit holders are barred from most Campus buildings.

Wisconsin has a minimum age limit on hunting.

Wisconsin still requires a permit to carry firearms concealed.  Second Amendment supporters would like to move to permit-less or Constitutional carry.

It will be interesting to see how high Second Amendment supporters drive the numbers of this poll.

Link to poll

Update:

Loosen: 70%,                         398 votes
Tighten 17.2%                       93 votes
Remain the same 11.9%        64 votes
More than 4 times as many for loosen as tighten.

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