Wisconsin throws off the shackles of unreasoning paternalistic oppression and becomes the latest “Shall Issue” state:

The GOP-controlled Assembly approved the bill on a bipartisan vote of 68-27.

The Senate backed the bill last week on a 25-8 vote, and the measure now goes to Walker, who supports it, for his signature.

Wisconsin would become the 49th state to legalize the carrying of concealed guns.

The legislation would require those who want to carry concealed firearms to obtain permits. It would allow people to carry concealed weapons in the state Capitol and other public buildings but not places like police stations and courthouses. Weapons also would be prohibited in buildings where posted notices bar them, and in places like Summerfest music festival at Milwaukee’s lakefront.

The closest thing to a downside, according to my fellow Green Room blogger “MadisonConservative”?  Wisconsin conservatives had been hoping for “Constitutional Carry”, as in Alaska, Arizona and Vermont (and, starting July 1, Wyoming), which require no permit at all for the law-abiding citizen to carry, concealed or openly.

I’m OK with incrementalism – remember, Wisconsin has leapt from being one of two no issue states, straight over “discretionary issue” (which Minnesota was from 1974-2003, and again for a year or so in 2004-05) to the ranks of shall-issue states.  Those states now number 39, leaving only nine states with “may-issue” laws, and only one, Illinois, which denies the human right of self-defense to its citizens (along with Hawaii and New Jersey, which have “may-issue” laws but rarely issue permits).  Anything worth doing is worth taking the time to do right – and as more and more people see that the law-abiding gun owner is the least of this nation’s problems, I can see more states adopting unrestricted carry.

Which is not to say that there aren’t people who still just don’t get it:

But Matt Havighurst of Madison said he doesn’t like the bill “at all.”

Havighurst, 41, who was playing with his 3-year-old son, Noah, at the lakeshore at James Madison Park said if the measure passes the government should send out free signs saying “no guns allowed” to anyone who doesn’t want them on their premises.

“What are you going to do at a park?” he said of such signs. “Put them all over at every entrance?”

Perhaps Mr. Havinghurst should take his son to a park in Chicago – no carry permits and, for that matter, no legal civilian gun ownership – and test his theory.

But not with the kid.  Too dangerous.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Friday, June 24th, 2011 at 7:00 am and is filed under Victim Disarmament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.