[antsi]

I live just across the border in the PR of IL. Just moved here (job-related) in August. Been renting.

I like the area, I like the job, I like the High Power Matches in Beloit.

But it looks like Mayor Daley wants my rifle, sooo... if I decide to start looking to buy a home, should I be looking in Wisconsin?

It is not just the "right-now" gun law picture I am interested in, but also the future outlook.

The future outlook here in IL is not good. Even if (somehow) Daley's latest creation is defeated or tabled or pigeonholed, the man essentially owns the state and he will not rest until every gun is melted down or moved out of Hizzoner's state.

[Gfrey]

Personally?

I am doing fine, thanks.


Want my $.02?


Move.


Move now.

Beloit may not be exactly where you want to move to, but North of the border is definately better. (I think small towns are better. I live just outside Fort Atkinson, ~45 min to Beloit.)

But I may not be the most objective responder. :) I grew up in WI and went to College in Chicago area, learned a lot getting my degree, including the fact I DON"T want to live in Chicago, or Suburbs thereof.

I know a real estate agent in Madison who would be GLAD to help you.... want her number?


Gfrey

[antsi]

Thanks, but I would need to keep within easy commute distance to my job in Illinois. Madison would be a little too far North for that.

So how are the laws there? Who is stronger/more active? The anti's, or the RKBA-ers?

[riverdog]

http://www.packing.org./state/index.jsp/wisconsin Doesn't look all that great to me.

[tommytrauma]

Things are starting to look up.

wisconsinconcealedcarry.com

(Monkeyleg, please forgive me for stealing your thunder)

What’s Happening With the Concealed Carry Bill

Last year we were told that the concealed carry bill would be one of the first introduced in this year's legislative session. Unfortunately, that was before the budget deficit started dominating the front pages of newspapers all over the state every single day.

The budget process has taken priority over everything else in the legislature, including concealed carry. The Right to Hunt and Trap amendment passed, and only took 45 minutes in the senate (most of which time was spent by a couple of Democrats complaining about taking time away from the budget negotiations). Some papers hammered the Republicans for bringing up the amendment when the more pressing issue of the budget was not finished, even though it was necessary to pass the amendment so that it could be on the referendum in the April elections.

So, introducing concealed carry right now would be a mistake, since many supporters would vote to table it and get on with the budget. Once the budget stuff is over--which should be by June--it will be introduced. It is possible, though, that many legislators will go home after the grueling budget battle, and that it won't be until September that we get any action. All of us should be prepared for that possibility.

We're also in a holding pattern while we wait for a decision from the state supreme court in State vs. Hamdan (docket #010056). A WCCA volunteer--who's also an attorney with a background in constitutional law--sat in on the oral arguments back in November. His feeling was that the court would rule at least somewhat in our favor, based on the remarks of the justices. Others in Madison feel the same way, and some legislators are thinking that whatever decision the court hands down will help give the concealed carry bill more momentum.

The last thing that's delaying the introduction of the bill is the special elections for the senate seats vacated by Democrat Senators Shibilski and Grobschmidt, both of whom took cabinet positions in the Doyle administration. Shibilski's district is very pro-gun (as is Shibilski), and Grobschmidt generally voted pro-gun as well. If a pro-CCW candidate is elected in one or both of those districts, that will help in getting the required 22 votes in the senate to override a Doyle veto.

Right now the thinking is that there are enough votes to override, and that Doyle may just do nothing with the bill to avoid stirring up the legislature while he tries to reach a concensus on a number of issues. If he does nothing with the bill after passage in both houses, it automatically becomes law after thirty days.

In the past, the efforts of the WCCA have been focused on getting people to write their legislators. We've been doing this at gun shows, where we have blank pre-stamped postcards for people to address and sign. Once we get a green light from "those in the know," we'll start the gun shows again and put pressure on the legislators.

Everyone concerned with the bill seems to feel very positive about its chances. One veteran gun lobbyist said he thought it would pass by June. That was before the delay, but the same optimism is holding, even if it may be September before the bill is introduced.

We've waited 130 years to get legalized concealed carry in Wisconsin. If we have to wait a few more months, and if that wait increases our chances of getting the bill passed, then the wait will have been worth it.

[AJ Dual]

Doesn't look all that great to me. :confused:

WI is not that bad. It's as good as any other state, with the one exception (hopefully soon to change) of no CCW. Of which we are hardly yet alone. (We are a bit unusual in that there is currently NO CCW for ANYBODY but LEO's, but I find a certain sense of justice that even the pol's, elites, rich, P.I.'s, and "Good ol' boy" network can't even get a permit like in NYC, or CA... at least untill we all can.)

WI gun pro's:

- No gun bans other than the federal level ones that we all have to deal with.

- No FOID bull**** like IL.

- State gun law pre-emption so liberal cities like Milwaukee and Madison can't pass thier own bans.

- No magazine restrictions.

- Class III, Full auto, silencers, AOW's, and Short Barreled Rifles are legal witht proper ATF paperwork, with the caveat (like anywhere else) if your sherriff or chief of police will sign.

- No gun purchase limits. No "Gun-a-Month" rules.

- Intra-state private sales are unrestricted between resident non-felons etc. You are NOT forced to use an FFL like in CA etc. just to sell a rifle to your neighbor or your dad.

- Republican majority in house and senate, and bolstered by Conservative, pro-gun, "countryside & farm" Democrats will likely keep our new liberal gov. Doyle from passing bad gun laws, or vetoing CCW when it comes up again this summer.

- We are not as strong a "tactical" gunnie state like say TX, AZ, or NV, but we are a very strong hunting state. But like I said, nothing is banned worse than the federal laws.

- You can shoot AK's and AR's at the state ranges. (At least I do at McMiller in Eagle...)

- We have civil suit protection for those who are ruled as justifiable shootings/homicide in self-defense.

- AFAIK, no "duty to retreat" like in MA or CT or wherever that despicable law is...

The WI gun con's:

- No Texas night/property justifiable "shoot'em law".
- No TX and LA style "make my day laws for carjacking",
- No CCW.
- 2 business day wait on pistols after NICS and an extra $10 WI DROS fee.

Otherwise we're as good on guns as anywhere else, and lightyears ahead of MA, MD, IL, HI, NJ and CA...

[Monkeyleg]

Andrew, thanks for getting our link up there, and posting the CCW info.

Antsi, as Andrew stated, WI is pretty good on guns. While other states have been passing anti-gun laws, we've been making progress getting pro-gun laws passed. In the last eight years we got the pre-emption bill, range protection (existing ranges can't be shut down just because they constitute a "nuisance"), a right to keep and bear arms amendment, a right to hunt and trap amendment (to keep the PETA types from restricting those activities), and a host of other good laws. We've been moving forward.

Attempted handgun ban referendums in Milwaukee and Kenosha in 1994 failed by 70%+.

In the Assembly right now is a bill that would prevent municipalities from suing gun makers, gun distributors and gun dealers for negligent or criminal use of their products.

And, of course, we just may get CCW this year.

After that? Look for a bill to eliminate the 48 hour waiting period.

So, c'mon up!

[DTLoken]

Sounds good, maybe all this stuff will pass before i'm 21 in a year and a half.

[Monkeyleg]

"Sounds good, maybe all this stuff will pass before i'm 21 in a year and a half."

I'll trade you a CCW permit, a Class III license and all the ammo you need for the rest of your life, in exchange to be 19 years old again. ;)

The memories are so vivid: the girls....

[artjs]

Monkeyleg.....SLAP....SLAP ....... SSSLLLLAAAPPPP
WAKE UP D@m't

You're dreaming again!!!

You're drooling again and making a mess of yourself!!

WAKE UP!!

:evil:

[El Tejon]

Ummmm, 19 year old young and nubile females . . . . .:cool:

[Sidetracker]

Hello Antsi,
We must be living in roughly the same area. I've been considering the same move because of what be coming for IL gun owners.

[antsi]

Sidetracker:

Yeah, "roughly" the same area...


Others,
Thanks for your replies. I will definitely start looking North...