For crying out loud, if the only source I had for news on the WI CCW effort was THR, I'd be lying in my bed and weeping. Which seems to be what a few here are doing.
The bill allows a sheriff to go before the county board and request to "opt out," and requires a two-thirds majority vote to approve the opt-out. Problem is, the bill says that the sheriff can't do that until four months[i/] after the bill is passed. Four months. It hasn't even passed yet, and the nay-sayers are in charge.
>>cracked butt: "The other side of the story is that if enough counties opt out, the counties that are left will be swamped with paperwork from residents of counties that have opted out, and may decide its not worth their time, effort, and resources to keep issuing permits.
I read an article in the sentinel urinal yesterday about how in somewhere around 65 counties there is pressure from the Sheriff's departments to opt out."<<
Swamped with paperwork? I'd give some mighty prized body parts in exchange for a piece of this action. The estimated time to complete the background check, application, "beauty photo," and other requirements is between 15 and thirty minutes. The sheriff's department receives $75 for this service. On top of that amount, the department receives another $15 for a range improvement fee, to defray the cost of training deputies. On top of that, the county gets $15, just for being there, I guess.
Let's do some math. The $75 fee is gross profit for fifteen to twenty minutes of work time conducted by a clerk who makes perhaps $15 an hour. If the clerk does his/her job, the department gets another $15 (the law enforcement excellence fund). And the county yet another $15 (range improvement).
The Department of Justice is estimating 35,000 permit applications in the first year. Let's say that 71 of the 72 sheriffs here "just say no" to concealed carry. Well, gee, that means that one sheriff's department is going to rake in $3.15 million dollars in the first year.
Can you say "leather seats" for Jaguar squad cars? Can you say DVD players, state-of-the-art range facilities, not to mention a benefits/pension fund that would beat any department, anywhere? Can you imagine the deputies from other counties who would flock to that county to get a first-class job?
In other words, can you envision some "opt-out" sheriff having to eat a bit of crow to keep his deputies--and no small amount of money--back in his jurisdiction?
It is the job of the Journal Sentinel to demoralize gunowners. It's their job to make us all think that we cannot win.
It's my job--and the job of every WCCA volunteer-- to let everyone know that we are within one or two votes of making this happen, and to tell every gunowner we can reach that we are as close to wining this battle as we've ever been. We can win, and the Journal Sentinel editorial writers know it.
So, you can sit back in your chair and believe the Journal Sentinel. Or you can believe what we know to be true, pick up your phone and make a difference.
