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For gun rights advocates, open carry puts the law in the public eye

ELKHORN — At least one member of a gun rights group had considered carrying a weapon out in the open Saturday at the Walworth County Dairy Breakfast.

Paul Fisher of Elkhorn told WalworthCountyToday.com in an e-mail that he decided against carrying his weapon in the open because he was unsure if the fairgrounds was public property. If it was, its proximity to Elkhorn schools would have prohibited him from bringing his weapon.

However, Fisher later learned the fairgrounds are private property. Fisher says he could have carried his weapon as long as he wasn't asked to leave.

Wisconsin forbids residents from carrying a concealed weapon, but allows them to openly carry a holstered guns under certain conditions.

Fisher posted on the message board of the Virginia-based, gun rights advocacy group OpenCarry.org wrote that he would be at the Walworth County Fairgrounds Saturday collecting signatures for Rebecca Kleefisch.

Kleefisch is running for lieutenant governor.

The open carry law is both controversial and not well understood.

In April, Justin Johnson was asked to leave a Portage store after a shopper spotted him openly carrying a handgun, held in a holster on his thigh. The gun was a .44 magnum Taurus, fully loaded, according to the Portage Daily Register.

Johnson was told the city had an ordinance prohibiting carrying a fire arm, but it turns out the ordinance violated state law.

In May, the city council voted to bring their ordinance inline with state statutes.

But other encounters with open carry proponents are not so civil.

In May, Jesus C. Gonzalez, 23, a prominent gun-rights advocate, was charged in the death of one man, and attempted homicide of another, according to the MIlwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"I've noticed that there seems to be no one in Milwaukee willing to get OC (open carry) started, but I was never one to wait for others," wrote on the same OpenCarry.org message board.

Gonzalez had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit last year over his arrests in 2008 and 2009 for wearing a loaded handgun into a Menards and a Wal-Mart.

Neither disorderly conduct arrest led to formal charges, and a week after his suit was filed, state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen advised law enforcement agencies that wearing a gun in public, by itself, is not evidence of disorderly conduct, according to the Journal Sentinel report.

Comments from Paul Fisher were added to this version of the story