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In Wisconsin, a truck driver, Guy A. Smith, is contesting an arrest for carrying a concealed weapon. The handgun was on the floor of his truck, and was visible to an outside camera. Smith made no attempt to hide the firearm when the truck was inspected by a Wisconsin State Trooper. Open carry has always been legal in Wisconsin, but case law from 2003 found that carrying a loaded handgun concealed beneath a seat or in a glove compartment, was carrying concealed. The Supreme Court found the ruling to be correct, in spite of the passage of the strong...

The Wisconsin legislature is moving forward with Constitutional Carry in bill AB 247.  In 1998, the people of Wisconsin voted for Constitutional Carry in a state referendum amending the state constitution. The amendment, which created Article I, Section 25, is very clear. It received 74% of the vote. From Article I Section 25:  The people have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose. AB 247 is a comprehensive bill that puts Section 25 into practical law in Wisconsin.  From fox6now.com: MADISON -- A proposed bill would allow people in...

Wisconsin legislators are mounting a serious push to bring Wisconsin into the Constitutional carry club. Two weeks ago, on 28 March, 2017, the Right to Carry Act LRB-2039/1, was announced in the legislature. I have been hearing rumors about such a bill, but details were lacking. The Wisconsin legislature is catching up with what the people voted for in 1998.  In 1998, Wisconsin finished an arduous process to pass a right to keep and bear arms amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution.  It ended any argument about weather the Second Amendment applied to Wisconsin. From Article I Section 25:  The...

For I have learnt for a fact that nothing so effectively obtains, retains and regains grace, as that we should always be found not high-minded before God, but filled with holy fear. –St. Bernard of ClairveuxLast evening, April 11, 2017, the Diocese of Madison joined with Bishop Morlino at the Chrism Mass. It was a glorious evening, with many of our priests in attendance.During Bishop Morlino’s homily, he alluded to a recent March 31 address by Cardinal Sarah, the “Vatican Liturgy Chief” (Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments). In his address, Cardinal Sarah...

In this interesting video of an attempted robbery, the clerk's situational awareness allows him to respond quickly. The shooting occurred on March 10, 2017, in Columbus, Ohio. The clerk is suspicious of the customer coming in the door with his hand hidden. The clerk draws his semi-auto from his right side back pocket.  The lack of a holster is a good clue to a lack of training. Store personnel armed themselves after three armed robberies in a year. Link to video: In the video, I was only able to detect two shots.  One can be heard as the suspect...

One day in late spring in the early days of the George W. Bush administration, FDA inspectors visited the headquarters of Sargento cheese in Plymouth, Wisconsin—a routine visit as part of the federal government's efforts to ensure the safety of the food we eat. The inspectors took samples of cheese to test for bacteria. Sargento conducted tests on cheese from the same lot. A week later, the results from both sets of tests were in—the cheese was bacteria-free. Sargento, having gotten the all-clear from the government, shipped the cheese to stores across the country. Two months later, however, the FDA...

After nearly four years in the courts, Wisconsin Carry, Inc. won a historic victory for the right to bear arms in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Carry had sued the City of Madison, because the City had refused to remove a rule that had been instituted in 2005 by the City Transit and Parking Commission. The rule forbid the transportation of any weapons on city buses. The case started in 2013. Wisconsin has a strong state constitutional protection for the bearing of arms. Wisconsin Carry did not invoke that protection directly, nor did they cite the Second Amendment.  Wisconsin had passed a...

After nearly four years in the courts, Wisconsin Carry, Inc. won a historic victory for the right to bear arms in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Carry had sued the City of Madison, because the City had refused to remove a rule that had been instituted in 2005 by the City Transit and Parking Commission. The rule forbid the transportation of any weapons on city buses. The case started in 2013. Wisconsin has a strong state constitutional protection for the bearing of arms. Wisconsin Carry did not invoke that protection directly, nor did they cite the Second Amendment.  Wisconsin had passed a...

Wisconsin topped 320,000 concealed carry permits by the end of December, 2016.  As of January 7th, 2017, there were 321,200 active permits. 3,218 new permits were added in December, according to a Wisconsin Department of Justice source. Some permits are expiring, so the rate of increase of active permits has slowed. There were 315,263 active permits at the end of September, 2016. Wisconsin has one of the best and most easily accessible shall issue concealed carry permit systems in the nation.  No fingerprints or picture is required. The permit fee is $40, and the training requirement is easily met...

Image from Fox6now.com 63rd and Euclid in Milwaukee It was a dark and cold winter night on Tuesday, 27 December in Milwaukee, at 10 p.m. The sun had set more than three hours ago. There was no moon, but there was a cold breeze. The temperature held at 23 degrees. The blustery wind of the afternoon had dropped off. A 36-year-old Milwaukee resident was walking his dog in a secluded neighborhood. Street lights were far apart.Two teenage criminals were in a car, cruising for trouble. They found it. The armed teens attempted to rob the man. He had a...

Wisconsin has made incremental progress in restoring the right to keep and bear arms in the last few years.  Representative Jesse Kremer has been an active Second Amendment supporter in the legislature. He was re-elected in the 2016 presidential year.  The state has built on the Constitutional amendment passed in 1998, with 74% of the vote. The people have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose Representative Kremer seems to believe that the amendment, now Article 1, Section 25 of the Wisconsin state constitution, means what it says. Wisconsin...

snip Sixty out of Wisconsin’s 72 counties completed the Wisconsin recount as of Day 9, with 1,322 net votes changed since the recount began, according to the Wisconsin Election Commission. The errors have included everything from jammed ballots to voters using the wrong pens, but they have not represented a significant shift at all. Since both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton gained votes overall, the net result is almost nil, and Trump retains his 22,000-plus vote lead with Clinton only gaining a net 49 more votes after nine days of counting. Meanwhile, on December 9, a federal judge rejected an...

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a request from President-elect Donald Trump's supporters to halt a recount in Wisconsin, according to a new report. Judge James Peterson's ruling in Madison will let the controversial review requested by Green Party nominee Jill Stein continue, reports The Wisconsin State Journal. Stein initially requested the recount in Wisconsin to determine whether election machines there were hacked last month. President-elect Donald Trump defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by more than 22,000 votes in the state on Election Day. Two pro-Trump groups, the Great America PAC and the Stop Hillary PAC, filed a federal...

"The PC crowd is humorless," Duffy, a former star of MTV's "The Real World" in the 1990s, tweeted. "For those offended by my 'communist' comment, I'll send a therapy dog to your 'safe place' of choice in Madison."

Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on Wednesday that people walk around with floppy disks in order to hack and reprogram voter machines. Stein–who is attempting to launch election recount efforts in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to contest Donald Trump’s victory–first explained the indicators that people looked for when a machine is suspected of being tampered with or having an error. “So the indicators that they look for if they want to see a machine error or a foul play or tampering, you look for a couple of indicators,” she said. “So one is close...

WISCONSIN Trump had widened his victory margin over Clinton in Wisconsin by 146 votes, with 23 of the state’s 72 counties having finished their recounts as of Tuesday. In those counties, Trump gained 105 votes and Clinton dropped 41 votes. Trump defeated Clinton in Wisconsin by about 22,000 votes. A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for Friday in a lawsuit filed last week by a Trump voter and two super PACs seeking to stop the recount.

On Day Five of the Wisconsin presidential election recount, as reported by Fox 6 News, a milestone has been reached. Over a million votes have now been recounted, and the recount effort is finished in six of the 72 Wisconsin counties. Donald Trump now has 20 fewer votes than he had at the close of the polls on November 8; Hillary Clinton also has exactly 20 fewer votes than she had at the close of the polls, so Trump’s margin of victory is literally unchanged. Gary Johnson (who came in third in the actual election) has gained 13 votes over...

The Village Gun is my name for an old Springfield 84-C.  My father acquired the rifle and a state of the art Weaver 3/4 inch straight tube scope for $7.50 during the Depression. I have written in previous articles that the Village Gun was used by my father and the neighbors for deer hunting. The Village Gun wasn't primarily used for deer hunting. There are dozens of things a .22 rifle is used for on a farm at the edge of wild country.  The Village gun was probably used for most of them, over the roughly 60 years of...

Wisconsin recount totals for day 2 show that Donald Trump has inched ahead by a couple additional votes. Three to be exact. The Wisconsin Election Commission posts recount data on a spreadsheet every day. The latest spreadsheet totals as of 1:30 p.m. CST on December 3 show that the recount isn’t changing much, although a smattering of errors have been found throughout the state. The candidates each lost and gained a smattering of votes in towns, cities, and villages that are reporting, so any losses were basically cancelled out. The Election Commission doesn’t tally the returns, but, rather, just posts...

MADISON, Wis. (WBAY) – Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump have filed an emergency motion asking a court to halt the presidential election recount in Wisconsin. The suit was filed Friday by Great America PAC, Stop Hillary PAC, and Wisconsin voter Ronald R. Johnson. The filing says the recount “threatens to violate the Equal Protection rights” of Johnson and other Wisconsin voters, citing the Supreme Court’s decision on Bush v. Gore in the 2000 presidential election recount. The filers claim the rules for Wisconsin’s recount “suffer from comparable constitutional deficiencies” as the 2000 recount in Florida. The document states the Wisconsin...