A Salute To You Folks In Wisconsin...

[Fred Fuller]

And welcome aboard! Anyone here from there care to tell us about your experience in obtaining a permit, your training, etc?

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statep...ons-swamp-state-agency-aq3eo5m-135840133.html
Conceal carry permit applications swamp state agency
Wisconsin Department of Justice struggles to meet deadlines
By Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel
Dec. 18, 2011

On Nov. 1, Wisconsin became the 49th state in the country to allow the concealed carry of weapons, prompting a rush from people who have long wanted a permit. The law allows people 21 and older to qualify for weapons permits if they are trained and can pass a background check that shows they're not felons or otherwise barred from carrying guns.

============

ETA: Also ran across this today - http://www.ammoland.com/2011/12/19/...-free-concealed-carry-license-training-class/
Wisconsin Carry Offers FREE Concealed Carry License Training Class
Monday, December 19th, 2011 at 12:44 PM

 

[GI_Jared]

Thanks! I was in the Army for 4 years so all I had to do was fill out the application, send it in with a copy of my DD-214 (discharge papers) and a check for $50. I sent mine in on the first day and received it roughly two weeks later, I was license number 14,xxx. I wonder how many they have issued by now?

 

[230therapy]

It's a permit, not a right. I see no reason to celebrate a scheme used to deny Wisconsiners their actual right. It's not a step "in the right direction". It's opposite that: it enshrines systemic violation of the Wisconsin constitution and gets citizens to buy into it.

Right to keep and bear arms. SECTION 25. [As created Nov. 1998] The people have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose. [1995 J.R. 27, 1997 J.R. 21, vote November 1998]

http://legis.wisconsin.gov/rsb/2wiscon.html

 

[GI_Jared]

@230therapy: I believe this thread was started to talk about concealed carry in Wisconsin, not start some legal debate over the right to bear arms and what the legal interpretation of those laws mean.

 

[dexterdog]

Thanks! I was in the Army for 4 years so all I had to do was fill out the application, send it in with a copy of my DD-214 (discharge papers) and a check for $50. I sent mine in on the first day and received it roughly two weeks later, I was license number 14,xxx. I wonder how many they have issued by now?

GI, I was 94XX. A friend of mine just got his and is 28,XXX.
I carry now almost all of the time.

 

[ilmonster]

Dexter, I am hoping to get my CCW by the end of this week. With my luck, I'll be number 50,000. Does that sound like I'm complaining, I'm not. Pleased as punch to have concealed carry here in Wisconsin!

 

[Fred_G]

A little OT, but I recently got my CCL in LA! 2 week turnaround time is nice! They have 100 days do approve/deny here. I got mine in about a month. Have carried a few times, is an interesting experience.

 

[blutarsky]

i'm a resident of texas with a texas chl which is honored now in wisconsin -- i spent most of the summer and part of the fall up in wisconsin, suffering through all of the hysteria and fear mongering ("blood in the streets", "think of the children!", etc) leading up to november 1st when concealed carry was to become legal. naturally i knew it would be a non-event, with respect to those irrational fears, but i rather anticipated the date to celebrate the victory for liberty. so on october 31, in the evening, i put on a pot of coffee and waited for the clock to strike midnight. so when it was officially november 1, i dressed warmly (it gets cold up there!), dropped my lcp in my pocket, and took a drive through the small town streets. up where i was, there was NOBODY out and about, but having spent time up there over the past several years it felt a bit odd to have a gun in my pocket... a contrast to how "normal" it feels at home in texas. in any case, i might not have been the very first one in wisconsin to legally take to the streets on the 1st, but it felt good to do it. that being said, it does feel kind of weird to be so excited about something which, in reality, is such a non-event. the sky didn't fall or nothing .... go figure

 

[RatDrall]

I just moved back to Wisconsin, where I grew up, earlier this year after being away for 10 years or so. I always joked about how I'd move back, when Hell froze over and Wisconsin legalized concealed carry...

#42xx here. It came around November 13th, two weeks after mailing out. Some of my friends, who sent their permit in the same day I did, recieved theirs the first week. It's in the wallet next to a couple of other permits from States who got their stuff together sooner.

Our bill is the result of no one getting what they wanted, and contains as much nonsense as any other state bill. One side wanted strict training requirements, the other Constutional carry. We ended up with an annoying permitting process that requires a Hunter Safety Class for "training". This is in spite of the fact that the Republican party holds all 3 branches of government, and at the time had the votes needed to push through Consitutional Carry.

I'm glad that I can carry legally now, without having to worry about a misdemeanor Concealed Weapons charge and the confiscation of my weapon, but it still isn't as good as the state and national Constitution guarentee.

 

[ilmonster]

Just got it, number 28,xxx here! Just under the 45 day deadline.

 

[JoeSlomo]

Well....regardless of how we all feel about "licensing" and the process, I am glad more citizens have the option to legally carry some of the tools they may need to defend themselves and their loved ones.

 

[230therapy]

@230therapy: I believe this thread was started to talk about concealed carry in Wisconsin, not start some legal debate over the right to bear arms and what the legal interpretation of those laws mean.

"On Nov. 1, Wisconsin became the 49th state in the country to allow the concealed carry of weapons,"

There are no congratulations necessary for the usurpation of a right included in the state constitution. It is an unconstitutional law; therefore, it is no law at all.

This thread just demonstrates how ignorant most people are regarding unconstitutional laws. They go so far as to celebrate such silliness. Perhaps you'll cheer when the President signs the National Defense Authorization Act?

 

[average_shooter]

Cry, bitch, whine and moan all you like, but before this law CC off your own property was illegal. As in, go to jail illegal.

You can argue that the CC law is "illegal" all you want to the state supreme court, be my guest, please do, but you're probably not likely to get very far and you'll spend a lot of money.

We're not ignorant, we're just tired of having no legal means to protect ourselves and we've been fighting for a while now. This is a step in the right direction. Once people realize the "blood in the streets" BS is just that, Constitutional Carry is much more likely to pass.

 

[Fred Fuller]

230therapy,

The best is the enemy of the good. Change takes time, be it for good or ill. I will always congratulate change for the good.

You can be as strict a constructionist as you want to be, but when the united States Constitution no longer applies inside the corporate United States of America, all you are doing is beating your head against a long established legal fiction by protesting in this fashion.

Do you have a drivers license, perchance?

 

[Miata Mike]

ETA: Also ran across this today - http://www.ammoland.com/2011/12/19/w...raining-class/
Wisconsin Carry Offers FREE Concealed Carry License Training Class
Monday, December 19th, 2011 at 12:44 PM
__________________

Thanks for the link Lee. I am one of those that do not have any "formal" training. I fail to see how teaching a 12 year old, 30 years ago about proper long gun handling qualifies one for concealed carry, but all the power to those people.

And yes....there has been no blood running in the streets since November 1st. ;-) It will be a long process to get shop owners to reverse their "no carry in my store" mindset, but I never figured it would come off without a hitch.

 

[Fred Fuller]

You're welcome for the link. All the time I spend reading stuff, it only seems fair to share the take.

no blood running in the streets

Amazing how that works, isn't it? TliberalPTB here in NC were scared spitless that the streets of every burg, hamlet, town and city in the state were going to be filled with flying bullets and bleeding bodies once concealed carry became a reality here.

And some of them still seem to expect it to happen, Any Day Now...

 

[sidheshooter]

I, for one, would enjoy hearing from new permit holders as their licenses appear. It will be fun to keep count. Breaking 50k before the first of the year would be encouraging.

 

[Patriot1/3]

Fully joyed to see American CITIZENS keeping hope alive for conceal carry. Sound off,sound off frequently.

 

[whanson_wi]

Still waiting on my permit. The wife and I took the first class that fit both our schedules (it was interesting to see that of a class of 25 or so, 10 of the people looked like husband/wife teams), then we applied the next day. It took over a week for the checks to clear the bank, so I imagine the pile of envelopes they receive at the DoJ everyday is a little intimidating... depositing checks being one of the fastest things a government agency does.

 

[ActionJax]

Still waiting as well.

I've trained with Michael Bender of the Personal Protection Academy, and found the training to be excellent in all respects. I've been through Handgun 5 (5 separate one-day courses) over about 15 months, with thousands of rounds of rehearsal in between. I was an ignorant ninny when I started -- pretty handy by now.

Even though I am a pretty thorough Libertarian, I think all carriers (OC or CC) owe it to themselves and the public to have equally rigorous and prolonged training and practice. The "Carry Classes" are a joke, and do not require you to have ever even touched an unloaded firearm..... huh?

Not sure what the "law" should be, but please get good training and WORK hard on the Mind-Skill-Toolset business. Avoid the 3 stupids, and rehearse the Yellow-Orange transition.

 

[wlewisiii]

I sent in my application and money order ~November 15. I got it back last Thursday. #30xxx. My training was my DD214 from active duty (1982 - 1985) when I was trained on the M1911A1. These days it's a 642 in my pocket.

As for no blood in the streets, it is, as always, never as good or bad as opposing sides would have you believe. Nothing in this life is.

The funniest thing for me is that living in Madison, I know far more liberals who have applied than conservatives.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Very pleased with my neighbors across the lake. They never gave up. Best wishes to them all and a hearty congratulations.

 

[Jeff22]

CCW in Wisconsin

I'm a cop and a firearms instructor so I didn't actually have to take any additional training to get a CCW permit (I've already been carrying concealed for 30 years).

But, I like to go to school, so I went to a couple of classes anyway.

The Gander Mountain store in Madison had a real good CCW class. The tuition includes a book called "Concealed Carry and Home Defense Fundamentals" by Michael Martin that's really pretty good. (I already had it) The book is well organized and well illustrated. The legal part is a little confusing in the way it's organized and I don't agree with all of the conclusions. Still, I think the book is really good.

The instruction we received was excellent. The instructor was a retired cop and firearms instructor of much experience, and it showed in how smooth and organized the presentation was.

At the end you shot 30 rounds to demonstrate proficiency.

I attended with a friend who's a prosecutor with the DA's office. He was familiar with the legal issues around the defensive use of force, but had very limited experience shooting handguns. He bought a Smith & Wesson 642 for CCW use. He quite enjoyed the class.

The Wisconsin Dept of Justice also has created a cirriculum for a 4 hour class on CCW that deals a lot with Wisconsin Law. I took that class too, at Madison Area Technical College. (I knew both of the instructors. One of them was one of my instructors in the police academy back in 1981).

That class was also pretty good. The instructors were well organized and the DOJ cirriculum is pretty good -- much of it derived word for word from the manual the recruits get in the police academy.

(Many of the technical colleges in Wisconsin are offering CCW training using their existing LE instructors and the DOJ cirriculum)

And to finish off my training, I attended "Rules of Engagement for the Armed Citizen" by Massad Ayoob, who was in Saukville (north of Milwaukee) just before Christmas. I am a 2000 graduate of the LFI-1 judicious use of deadly force class, and so this was a refresher. Well worth the money.

I attended with a friend of mine who is an experienced IPSC competitive shooter who had never before had much training in the legal aspects of self defense. He found the class fascinating. Massad Ayoob is a pretty dynamic instructor, and well recommended.

Many of my non-police shooting friends have applied for CCW permits. So far, about a dozen have them.

I recommend to anybody that they should get some formal training from a credible instructor. Most private citizens don't have a real good understanding of the laws of self defense or about using force. With every right comes the responsibility to know what you have to know to act in a responsible manner.

 

[newbuckeye]

The amount of training required almost seems to me like they WANT someone to use unjustified deadly force. A hunters safety class is all it takes? I hope those getting their permits are smart enough to brush up more than just having taken hunters safety.

Anyway, Congrats to all Wisconsinites!

Now....on to Illinois! :banghead:

 

[Miata Mike]

The amount of training required almost seems to me like they WANT someone to use unjustified deadly force. A hunters safety class is all it takes? I hope those getting their permits are smart enough to brush up more than just having taken hunters safety.

Anyway, Congrats to all Wisconsinites!

Now....on to Illinois!

Actually, myself and quite a few of my coworkers have either taken the free courses offered by Wisconsin Carry Inc. or will do so in the near future.

I needed the class, but all of my coworkers had their hunters safety course and chose to have the specialized training. There is no good reason not to attend one of these classes to prepare for the "potential" legal and financial ramifications of using "lethal force", which can be as simple as drawing your weapon.

Money well spent.....

Thank you very much Lee Lapin for starting the ball rolling.

Now we need to get our law makers to remove the two day wait and/or background check charge from concealed carry permit owners.