By Dean Weingarten
Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- Protesters in Milwaukee want repeal of the Second Amendment. The signs at the NRA Carry Guard Expo show the intentions of those who want a disarmed society.
They are not talking half measures. They want to repeal the existing Constitutional right. At Milwaukee, they did not make much of an impression.
Inside the Wisconsin Center in downtown Milwaukee, thousands are learning from instructors, and checking out new products at the expo. Outside the convention center, a small group gathered in opposition.
“We don’t need a provision in our constitution saying anyone has a right to have a gun,” said Lee Goodman, Peaceful Communities.
The stood holding signs, protesting guns and the NRA.
“The more guns out there, the more violence there will be and it’s never going to stop, never going to stop,” said Linda Raciti, demonstrator.
What the cameras did not catch were the open carriers demonstrating in favor of open carry. A trusted source noted that there were a number of open carriers at the event. I have spoken to the writer. I have known the person he is referring to for many years.
A friend of mine went to down town Milwaukee to the NRA Carry Guard Expo.
As he was talking with some friends a on duty MPD officer came in and started talking with one of the group that the officer obviously knew.
The officer was discussing the counter protestors out side and said that there were about 50 of them in one area.
Then he said there were two open carriers across the street with pistols and rifles.
My friend was carrying as were the people he was talking too.
He reported no anti gun signs and he saw other people carrying also.
My what a change from a few years ago when Milwaukee’s mayor and police chief said open carriers would be treated as criminals and spread eagled on the ground any time they were seen.
He said there was a good turn out last evening and was going back today with his 79yoa mother who wanted to go.
In 2009, before the passage of the shall issue law in Wisconsin, Chief Flynn said, as recorded on washingtoncountysheriffwi.org:
“My message to my troops is if you see anybody carrying a gun on the streets of Milwaukee, we’ll put them on the ground, take the gun away and then decide whether you have a right to carry it.”
I do not know of any incidents where Chief Flynn’s “troops” carried out his threat; even a Milwaukee Police Chief seems to know when to back down.
Too bad no one has found pictures of the open carriers at the expo. They may yet surface. But open carry has come a long way when they do not make the news at a national NRA event.
Police in Milwaukee no longer pretend the Second Amendment to the Constitution does not exist. The comments of the officer overheard in Milwaukee show that the exercise of Second Amendment rights has been accepted by the police in Wisconsin.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.