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Milwaukee police call for concealed-carry changes
JS Online ^ | 3-11-12 | Gitte Laasby

Posted on 03/11/2012 11:57:35 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic

Milwaukee police are asking state legislators and gun rights activists to back three proposals police say would repair Wisconsin's concealed-carry law - among them: barring people with three misdemeanor convictions in five years from obtaining a concealed-carry permit.

~snip~

But one of Wisconsin's most prominent gun rights organizations says the proposals are too broad and could make it more difficult for law-abiding people to exercise their constitutional right to defend themselves with guns.

Police say they see three main problems with the existing law, which took effect in November and made Wisconsin the 49th state to allow concealed carry:

First, straw purchases - buying a firearm for someone who is prohibited from possessing a firearm - are a misdemeanor on a state level, not a felony as they are on a federal level.

Second, the requirements for a gun permit ignore the reality of plea bargains. Many habitual criminals legally qualify for, and could obtain, a concealed-carry permit because they were never convicted of a felony for which they were charged.

"Many of our career criminals don't have a felony conviction," explained Joel Plant, chief of staff with the Milwaukee Police Department. "They've been arrested for felonies, they've been charged with felonies, but because of necessity of the criminal justice process - and this is not a disparaging comment on the prosecution process or the judicial process - but because of necessity in our system, a lot of those felonies, many of those felonies, most of those felonies, are pled down to misdemeanor convictions."

Habitual criminals, Plant said, can carry a concealed gun with impunity from a potential of a felony charge unless they fire their guns.

Nik Clark of Wisconsin Carry, a gun rights group, said the problem seems to lie with the criminal justice system ...

(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: banglist; concealedcarry; donutwatch; felony; misdemeanor; strawbuyers
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1 posted on 03/11/2012 11:57:42 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic; Hunton Peck; Diana in Wisconsin; P from Sheb; Shady; DonkeyBonker; ...

Wisconsin Concealed Carry — police resistance ping

FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.


2 posted on 03/11/2012 11:59:53 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic

So, these cops think if someone has three speeding tickets on their record they should not be able to get a CCW? Dumb a**es. They can’t stand not being able to play God and decide who gets one and who doesn’t any longer.


3 posted on 03/12/2012 12:08:06 AM PDT by calex59
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To: calex59

Speeding tickets are not misdemeanors. They’re infractions.


4 posted on 03/12/2012 12:15:48 AM PDT by CarmichaelPatriot
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To: CarmichaelPatriot

I beg to differ. But even if you are correct(which you aren’t in the state of CA), 3 misdemeanors could be any one of many non violent violations. These cops are just pissed about the new law and are grasping at straws to try to pull the teeth on it.


5 posted on 03/12/2012 12:34:29 AM PDT by calex59
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More anti-gun tyranny by cops. To hell with them.


6 posted on 03/12/2012 12:38:40 AM PDT by AlmaKing
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To: afraidfortherepublic
if more people were empowered to defend themselves against violent criminals, we wouldn't need so many cops. the more we let them co op the right to defend ourselves, the more we are subject to their tyranny
7 posted on 03/12/2012 1:54:35 AM PDT by paul51 (11 September 2001 - Never forget)
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To: paul51

Does anyone think that the individuals with the mis-demeanors plan to carry legally? Why go through the hassle of getting a ccw permit? All that would do is call more attention to themselves. NO?


8 posted on 03/12/2012 3:21:06 AM PDT by DaveA37
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Joel Plant is a whiny little bitch who doesn’t want to have the police and courts do their jobs.

His first ‘excuse’ about straw purchases being state level misdemeanors vs. federal level felonies is meaningless. The Form 4473 is a federal form. If the purchaser lies on it he/she has committed a felony, period. The state argument is pathetic obfuscation.

His second ‘excuse’ about criminals not having records because of plea bargaining, etc. and being able to buy a gun is just about as pathetic as pathetic can get. If you want them off the street, get the evidence, arrest them and then convict them.

Abridging the rights of LEGAL concealed carry, open carry, or car-carry gun owners because of these two arguments is about as criminal/unconstitutional as I can imagine.


9 posted on 03/12/2012 3:44:08 AM PDT by Gaffer
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Comment #10 Removed by Moderator

To: afraidfortherepublic

I wonder when the FR jackboot lickers will show up and say that this is only the chief, and that the rest of the police are “on our side?” (in spite of every bit of evidence showing that the police are on the side of repression of the Bill of rights)


11 posted on 03/12/2012 4:28:39 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: from occupied ga

It’s not the Chiefs of Police that are out on the street, interfacing with everday citizens - that would be the rank and file police officer. Laws and freedom are ultimately supported or denied at the bottom level of an organization.


12 posted on 03/12/2012 4:41:09 AM PDT by Pecos (O.K., joke's over. Time to bring back the Constitution.)
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To: calex59

Maybe they are concerned the lower crime rates will make sky high police budgets harder to justify?


13 posted on 03/12/2012 4:52:59 AM PDT by magslinger (If I wanted to vote for a Commie I would vote for Obammie. He has a chance of winning.)
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To: Pecos
It’s not the Chiefs of Police that are out on the street, interfacing with everday citizens

I agree, but that is what the police worshippers on FR come up with when presented with irrefutable evidence that the police are the enforcement arm of the government, a government which is our primary enemy of freedom.

14 posted on 03/12/2012 5:02:52 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
"Many of our career criminals don't have a felony conviction," explained Joel Plant, chief of staff with the Milwaukee Police Department. "They've been arrested for felonies, they've been charged with felonies, but because of necessity of the criminal justice process - and this is not a disparaging comment on the prosecution process or the judicial process - but because of necessity in our system, a lot of those felonies, many of those felonies, most of those felonies, are pled down to misdemeanor convictions."

Then fix the system. Prosecutors prefer dealing with the same chronic criminals over and over, letting them go with a minor plea-bargained "guilty", rather than spend the resources needed to convict them at trial. This is because a conviction is a conviction as far as the prosecutor's record is concerned.

Statistics should be maintained on each prosecutor, showing the number of times somebody commits a crime after having been let go on a plea bargain.

15 posted on 03/12/2012 5:06:47 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

—having gone through all 80-some comments, looks like our side is winning the war of the replies about 10 to 1—

—most annoying to me is that “throw them down” Flynn is still C of P in Milwaukee-—


16 posted on 03/12/2012 5:15:03 AM PDT by rellimpank (--don't believe anything the media or government says about firearms or explosives--)
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To: from occupied ga
As I see it, there are at least three factors at play that end up pitting the police against Joe Everyday.

1. When all is said and done, every police officer just wants to go home in one piece at the end of the day.

2. The pull of peer groups is very strong; it is very, very easy for anyone to adopt a mindset of "us" v. "them".

3. Every police officer wants to keep drawing a paycheck. That factor will loom ever larger when the economic meltdown comes to fruition.

17 posted on 03/12/2012 5:15:48 AM PDT by Pecos (O.K., joke's over. Time to bring back the Constitution.)
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To: Pecos

Its the police chiefs who create the policies for no-knock raids and for shooting dogs. It starts at the top.


18 posted on 03/12/2012 5:21:15 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Pecos
1. When all is said and done, every police officer just wants to go home in one piece at the end of the day.

As do all of us. Police work is not particularly dangerous. Many years it doesn't even make it into the top ten with things like commercial fisherman, electrician, commercial driver, and landscaper being more dangerous.

The pull of peer groups is very strong; it is very, very easy for anyone to adopt a mindset of "us" v. "them"

This seems to me to be a big motivator of police behavior.

...paycheck...Yes, and when your paycheck is like the paychecks of all government employees dependent on how you can game the system to do as much unnecessary stuff as you can to expand your apparent role, you can see a motivation here to keep the peasants supressed.

19 posted on 03/12/2012 5:35:51 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
Most cops I have talked to DESPISE concealed carry.

They want there to be only three classes of people: cops, disarmed "sheep", and people with guns. The latter category, in their mind, should be equivalent to "criminals" and "people we can shoot on sight."

These kind of cops think that as soon as some sheep bleats, "GUN!" that cops should start blasting whoever is holding a gun that is not a cop and not a disarmed sheep.

In turn, I despise these kinds of cops. They are nothing but rights-denying jack-booted thugs.

20 posted on 03/12/2012 7:04:49 AM PDT by backwoods-engineer (I will vote against ANY presidential candidate who had non-citizen parents.)
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