“Updated: 4:41 p.m. ET Dec. 27, 2005
MILWAUKEE - At least 15 young people dragged a motorist out of his car and kicked and punched him, causing severe head trauma, after he honked his horn to get them to move out of a street, police said.

It was the latest in a series of mob beatings in the city.

The 50-year-old man was in critical condition Tuesday and it was unclear whether he would survive, police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said.”

That said, the crux of our argument remains, whether in the office building or in the home:

“[Concealed Carry] legislates that the concealed carry permit holder’s rights to carry their weapons outweighs the rights of a homeowner who doesn’t want a friend or neighbor bringing a gun in the privacy of their home—until the notification conditions are met.”

The security guard in the building I work in doesn’t want guns in the building. We lose either way if concealed carry becomes law because, potentially, the parking garage could now be filled with guns left in glove compartments, trunks, etc.

Most people are not going to bring a gun to work, or want to, and many employers would fire a person who would do so. As a person who works for a labor union, I can easily see how I could then, potentially get that person’s job back on grounds that there might not have been clear notification given in the person’s workplace.

Either way, whatever the ramifications, the gun industry wins and is winning. We are having an excellent discussion here, but the fact that we are having it, that we can see a near future where guns will have invaded our day to day lives with unknowable affects — some of which are downright frightening — is more than a bit alarming.

Check that note on Sen. Plale: Follow-up calls to Plale’s office for clarification on how he would vote on Doyle’s concealed carry veto have revealed that Plale will vote to override. Plale says he supports concealed carry, always has and will not back the Doyle veto. Apologies for the error. Not sure how the person who called his office came away with the idea that Plale was changing his vote; at this point, it has not changed.

I would argue that decent and humane citizens should not have to give notice to would-be predators that they’re about to break a trespass law. If they’ve got an insecurity that makes them need to carry a hidden pistol into the workplace, they should have to serve notice that they’re carrying a loaded weapon.

Decent hardworking people shouldn’t have to worry if some nutcase is carrying a hidden weapon into their work. These people who want to bring concealed weapons into places of worship, places of employment and places of socialization are no better than a suicide bomber strapping a bomb onto themselves or someone carrying around live grenades.

That just isn’t true – building management will have the option to use either oral notification or post a 11” x 11” sign.

To quote SB403 (943 is the State section on trespass):
“SECTION 73. 943.13 (2) of the statutes is renumbered 943.13 (2) (am), and 943.13 (2) (am) (intro.) and 1., as renumbered, are amended to read: 943.13 (2) (am) (intro.) A person has received notice from the owner or occupant within the meaning of sub. (1m) (b), (e) or (f) if he or she has been notified personally, either orally or in writing, or if the land is posted.”

There is a great deal wrong with concealed carry, and the amendments passed in the Assembly early Wednesday morning addressed only a few of the crazier parts of the bill. Schools are now a safety zone, thanks to one amendment. How did schools fail to get protection from concealed weapons the first time around? To have made schools a safe zone would have suggested that there is something abnormal and wrong about holstering a gun everywhere. The NRA, the author of the bill, is doing everything it can to uproot the logic that says a concealed gun is both threat and opportunity for crime.

Important note: The NRA annual meeting/convention will be held in Milwaukee May 19-21, 2006, at the Midwest Express center.

Whether concealed carry overcomes the upcoming Doyle veto or not, expect big payoffs for the bills supporters in the state Legislature. And if Doyle can’t find the single additional vote he needs in the state Assembly to uphold the veto (he has 33 votes, needs 34), expect a rootin’ tootin’ orgy of a campaign cash party with the victor’s spoils going to the Legislature’s gun industry supporters.

I can recall daily support from the Sentinel which included the daily skull graphic composed with handguns.

I think it was less than two days before the referendum when they quietly and spontaneously opposed the change- apparently large enough numbers of readers were cancelling subscriptions. (*The position change is public record; the subscription thing is not.)

Years later, in the same building, Journal Communications would hire armed guards for the executives on higher floors while they got rid of some pesky pre-merger unions.

It is dirty, crappy, and maybe true to say that anonymous gun ownership has done more for workplace fairness in the last 30 years than most — ask a unionized postal worker how their environment improved after some particularly poor events.

I’ve read some of the studies too, there is no consistent evidence to support or deny a reduction/increase in crime with concealed carry.

The whole thing smells of competing camel noses, slippery slopes, etc. — be it a total ban and collection, or tax breaks for rocket launchers.

Maybe you can tell the security guard that permits will only be allowed to people who pass a criminal background check, which is more demanding than what the state requires of security guards.
You could also suggest not working at the Delphi Pension Bldg. or Enron.

If right to carry passes, (which I’m quietly supportive of) I will probably take the class and get a permit — not because I own a gun (I don’t), not because I want to carry a gun I don’t plan to buy, not because I’m inflexible on the oft-threatened 2nd amendment, not because I think concealed carry will reduce crime or that I’m insensitive to the unreasonable carnage that is firearms — but because I can. I like the idea of mean people being uncomfortable as a consequence of their actions — and I have no problem being nice to fellow law-abiding strangers

p.s. I have talked to older people in this town who fondly remember carrying *cased* shotguns on public transit to go hunting when they were children in what are now the suburbs.