Alphecca: (Some) Cops in WI Oppose CCW Bill

August 10, 2005

(Some) Cops in WI Oppose CCW Bill

Some local law enforcement agencies are joining the Wisconsin Anti Violence Effort against a new concealed-carry act even before it’s introduced.

“We are not anti-gun, anti-hunter or anti-NRA,” Green Bay Police Chief Craig Van Schyndle said at a press event held by WAVE at the Brown County Courthouse in Green Bay. “This is an officer-safety issue and a community-safety issue. Green Bay, Appleton and Brown County are very safe communities, and concealed carry is a very dangerous proposition.”

Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, said he plans to finish drafting the Personal Protection Act “in a couple of weeks.” It would give “law-abiding citizens over the age of 21” with no felony record or violent misdemeanors the right to carry a concealed weapon upon undergoing a training and safety course comparable to that offered by the National Rifle Association, he said.

So Green Bay Police Chief Craig Van Schyndle is not anti-gun just so long as no one has one except the police. That's nice. Nice, too, that he doesn't think the fine people of Green Bay should be allowed to defend themselves from burglars, rapists, stalking ex's, drug thugs and gang-bangers.

His argument that this is an "officer safety issue" is nonsense since in reality (and has been shown in other states that have recently allowed CCW) there is virtually no increase in incidents against cops. Indeed, it is the law-abiding that apply for the permits and they are almost never implicated in crime, as statistics have proved. As for communities becoming less safe, how could allowing those who wish to protect themselves endanger others? Logic would tell you that a town becomes safer. The drop in crime in states that allow CCW prove that.

Here comes the clincher:

Appleton Police Chief Richard Myers called the concealed-carry issue “political” and said if Wisconsin does pass a concealed carry act, the public could expect “a more aggressive style in policing.”

“If we already have such safe communities, why would we want to change that?” Myers said.

Is he threatening the public he is sworn to serve? Sounds like it to me. What are cops going to do, write more tickets? Practice more police brutality? I suspect what he really means is that cops will now assume that any suspect they approach will be carrying a gun. Funny, I thought standard police academy training taught them that they should always have that in mind anyway. Again, criminals are already carrying guns. This proposed bill would simply allow the proven law-abiding to do the same.

And by the way, if their communities are already "safe" then why are the cops carrying guns? Why do they need night patrols? Maybe some of these "safe" cities should consider reducing their property-tax loads by reducing the size of their police forces because apparently they aren't needed.

Oh, wait! Here's some crime now:

David DeBauche of Green Bay is charged with murdering his wife and her parents on his 41st birthday late Saturday night on a vacation property near Mountain in Oconto County, a criminal complaint said.

Amy DeBauche, 37, David Jensen, 63, and Jane Jensen, 60, all of Green Bay, were shot with a shotgun in the head and neck, the complaint said, some time after Jane Jensen had called 911 to report her daughter’s husband was there with a gun.

Maybe if one of the victims had been armed and could defend them... But even if some towns seem safe, others in Wisconsin aren't and the right to carry shouldn't be denied their residents when you read this:

The mother of a Milwaukee man gunned down for $62 in cash said she wished Wisconsin had the death penalty to exact it against her only child's killers.

As a matter of fact, since Milwaukee seems to be a good example, crime there is out of control. According to that chart (follow link), Milwaukee has three times more murder than the national average. Almost twice the rate of forcible rape. Almost four times the robbery rate... Well THAT IS a safe community, huh? *Sigh* I'm tempted to say that when officials act to prevent a law-abiding citizen from the means to protect him/herself and something happens to that law-abiding citizen, then the officials are partly guilty because they allowed the criminal a free hand.

Posted by Jeff Soyer at August 10, 2005 07:21 AM

Comments

Bloody wankers! You'd think they could be arsed to pull their heads out and take a look at the states where concealed carry is now the law to see how it really works.

I'm continually amazed at blissninnies who trot out the old "more guns on the streets makes us less safe" nonsense, since it's a freakin' blatant lie. They trot out this tired old canard in every new state that considers concealed carry.

But I don't want to get off on a rant, so I'd best stop here.

Posted by: Aubrey Turner at August 10, 2005 04:55 PM

Don't Stop! Keep ranting! That's what we need to do to stem the tide of this "WAVE, VPC, Brady Bunch" propaganda. I'm astounded that I posted this about 12 hours ago and besides you, Aubrey, no one has gotten a rise out of the phony arguments these Wisconsin cops have given to oppose allowing concealed carry. Crap. The arguments, the evidence, the statistics are on OUR SIDE yet no one seems to be getting hot-and-bothered over media crap like this. Folks, it's really not so hard to hit my comment link/button. A lot of people read this blog. Let them know how you feel.

Posted by: Jeff Soyer at August 10, 2005 06:46 PM

Here's my rant.

Jeff, you're right on with your approach: we're safe, so surely we don't need nearly as many police officers. Great place for a budget reduction, starting--especially in these specific cases--at the top.

Posted by: cp at August 11, 2005 12:50 AM

The reason so few people have commented is because it's the SAME THING over, and over, and over... Not you Jeff, THEM! We hear the same tired lies from the same socialist rags so often that we've become desensitized to it. Apathy is the glove to which evil slips its hand.
Anyway, I don't know how much a CCW permit costs in Wisconsin, but here in Florida, it cost $117.
A small price to pay for liberty, in my opinion. Everything in America should be “User Pays”.
Do they really think criminals will pay money to be square with the laws? What bullshit.
People complain because you should be allowed to carry without having to have a permit and the consent of the state. I agree with this. I also think that if a background check is done over the phone, why can't you order a gun from the manufacturer on give them your Driver's License Number your damn self? Because the only tactic that the left has ever found that worked in relation to reducing gun ownership is increasing the cost of everything related to shooting. Think about it. Every law I know about has only made it more difficult for poor people, who incidentally are usually the one's in most need of defensive tools, to acquire arms. This goes all the way back to the first Jim Crow inspired gun laws. I bet WAVE's attempts to change the Wisconsin CCW law will only result in higher costs for the citizens.

Posted by: matt groom at August 11, 2005 01:08 AM

Don't Stop! Keep ranting!

Hey man, I'd love to, but the CSS (cascading style sheet) used by your comments section makes the text painful to read. Here's what it looks like through my browser (Mozilla Firefox 1.0.6):

http://www.fotototo.net/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=0

I told you how to fix your CSS file a long time ago.

Posted by: Michael Litscher at August 11, 2005 11:28 AM

It could be some settings in your browser, Michael. Comments look fine to me: Gray on white, proper spacing. I've checked it in IE, Safari, Netscape, and whatever the latest version of Firefox is on my computer at work.

Send the information to me again, though and I'll try it out.

Posted by: Jeff Soyer at August 12, 2005 07:33 AM

Note: Comments close down on posts after seven days and then
the comment input form disappears.

Your comments are welcome. You don't need to enter a URL and you don't need a "valid" email address, either. Note though that MT Blacklist is installed to flag suspiciously spam-like strings. Unfortunately, because of the bastard spammers, the strings "google.com" and "yahoo.com" (even in your email address) are currently banned as well. So are strings such as "cialis" (a common spam) which rules out words such as "socialism". Try putting a hyphan in a word like that.

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August 10, 2005

(Some) Cops in WI Oppose CCW Bill

By Golly, you're reading an archived post. Click Here to head to the main page and read current stuff...

Check it out:

My group sci-fi blog novel:

Colony: Alchibah