Police fine UW film students using fake guns $412 each

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Police fine UW film students using fake guns $412 each

Published: Monday, March 28, 2005

Five UW-Madison film students were fined $412 apiece Wednesday for disorderly conduct after an encounter with Madison Police atop the Overture Center Ramp, 318 W. Mifflin St., according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

According to a police statement, the department had received several reports of individuals with guns on top of the parking ramp. Though the guns the students were using were only facsimiles, they appeared to be real.

The statement said it was the students' obedience of the officers' commands that "saved what could have been a tragic incident."

This is the second time in two weeks Madison Police responded to gun situations only to find out the guns were fake and being used in film or theater productions.

The statement urges those using fake guns during productions to alert police ahead of time and to follow proper procedures during filming.

http://www.dailycardinal.com/news/2...tudents.Using.Fake.Guns.412.Each-904046.shtml
 
Note that this story is from the same city that has decreed open carry illegal, regardless of Wisconsin law granting the right to open carry (stated policy in the People's Democratic Republic of Madison is that if a cop sees you open carrying, he is to cite you for disturbing the peace).
 
Control Group, until about 1997 or so, Madison had a complete ban on handguns. It was only after the state passed pre-emption legislation that the ban was rendered null and void. Even today, many Madison gun shops don't carry handguns because of the political pressure.
 
Monkeyleg - actually, that's part of what gets me so torqued about it, the end run around the law. I would actually be less bothered (in principle, at least) with a legal handgun ban than an illegal effective ban on carrying. The most amusing part of it is that I really have no desire to open carry - more trouble than it's worth, IMHO - except for them telling me not to.

Anyway, and much more importantly - since I'm going to be moving to the PDRM in a month (assuming my apt. application is accepted, anyway) - are there any decent gun shops in Mad town? I know neither Dunham's nor Gander Mountain sell handguns, and that Rusk does. Anywhere else I should know about?
 
Control Group, I honestly don't know about the shops in Madison. I've never been to one and the owners of the shops I called saw no reason to be on my site. The only time I go to Madison is to go to the Capitol, and then I'm anxious to get the heck out of that town.

Madison wasn't doing an "end run" around the law. Prior to our pre-emption legislation, the Madison ban was 100% legal. In fact, there were ballot referendums in 1994 that would have banned handguns in Milwaukee and Kenosha.

Both were defeated by more than 70%. But it took the Milwaukee Police Association having their members go door-to-door identifying themselves as cops and asking people to vote "no" to do it. It was a huge, huge effort.

Going somewhat back to the original topic, I've parked in that Mifflin Street parking structure once before. It was for one of the first floor votes for concealed carry. The session ran really late into the evening, and I was tired.

I had a hard time remembering where the structure was and then, when I found it, I also found that I was the only person there. No other cars.

So here's this middle-aged guy in a suit, with no way to defend himself, obviously lost, and alone in a parking garage. Can you say "prey?"

And it really boiled my blood that I'd just left a session where the liberal legislators and the squishy Republicans said that we should just leave things to the police.

:cuss:
 
Using common sense one would think that it would have been a good idea to contact the local police dpeartment and advise them of the actions to be taken in advance thus short stopping any problems before they became an issue. Having just completed a 30 year law enforcement career. I can tell you that at times it is pretty hard to tell a real gun from some of the better quality fake guns. For a number of years I was my department's head firearms instructor and in charge of training. We did some training using paint ball markers in the parking garage of our own building, and had to advise the city departments of the dates times and locations of such training or our dispatch center would be over run with calls of a hostile take over of the police building. Common sense is not always very common.
 
Control Group, the only other gun store in the Madison area to sell handguns is the ammo box in Sun Prairie. By the way, Madison's ban is still in effect, there is no gun store in the city of Madison to sell handguns. Rusk is in Fitchburg.
 
jefmad: "By the way, Madison's ban is still in effect..."

Unofficially, perhaps, because of the pressure I alluded to before.

No municipality in Wisconsin can enact a gun control law more stringent than state statutes.
 
Monkeyleg, I understand that there is no law that handguns cannot be sold in Madison. It's just funny how zoning problems, etc., crop up if you plan to sell handguns.
 
Using common sense one would think that it would have been a good idea to contact the local police dpeartment and advise them of the actions to be taken in advance thus short stopping any problems before they became an issue. Having just completed a 30 year law enforcement career.
Click to expand...
Again, I'd like to point out that the cost and hassle involved in hiring a police presence may have been prohibitive to the cost of the production. This certainly doesn't excuse their behavior or stupidity, but it certainly makes it understandable. This sort of guerilla-style movie making happens all the time.
 
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The last time I went to Rusk will be my last trip there. I was looking into the fee to get a gun transferred from out of state and they wanted to charge $50 for the ffl fee. :what: Forget that. If you're more into handguns there's not much there anyway it seems to be aimed more at hunters. I go to the ammo box. It's about 5 minutes into Sun Prairie. Deerfield equip and supply recently started selling handguns. Just filled out the backround check paper for the same gun I was checking Rusk for a couple of hours ago. It's got an indoor range, has various firearm classes and is owned/ran by a police officer. Small range but it's a really nice place. Me and my g/f took our basic Beginners instruction class there. (we're noobs :p)
 
Concur about Deerfield Pistol & Archery - that place is fantastic. I'm hoping they expand their actual gun buying/selling business, because that's a fantastic range with great people working it. I can see myself spending kind of a lot of time there after I've moved to Madison. I haven't been to the Ammo Box; I'll have to put that on my "to-do" list.

Rusk, however, is likely to get more of my business (though not, apparently, FFL transfers), since they're on of only two places I've found selling bare-lead 9x19 rounds (reloads, obviously). The indoor range at the Stoughton Conservation Club I bum time at off my member friends (but I'll be a member there next month, honest!) has a "no jacketed ammo" rule, so this is important.

Back on topic, I wonder how long it will be before some genius in the PDRM proposes a ban on realistic-looking fake guns, or at least registration thereof? I mean, they're clearly wreaking havoc on the public welfare, and need to be controlled. I mean, this is far more worrisome than smoking in bars, and that was banned.
 
Jefmad hit it right on the head and here is how I know that.

Gander Mountain had a pistol that I had been looking for on sale a while back. It was the same weekend I was going to be in Madison so I called their location to see if it was in stock. They explained that they did not carry any handguns at all because the city wouldn't allow them to. I said BS and asked for the manager who promptly got on the line. He told me that is was not a ordinance that kept them from selling guns, but the city through zoning control would not allow them to sell and handguns. If they ever started selling handguns the city was threatening to shut them down. He said they would love to fight it, but there just wasn't enough money involved to pay all the legal fees.

If you ask me the NRA should get involved with this one it is really screwed up.
 
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