by Dave Workman, Senior Editor 
During the first six weeks after enactment of Wisconsin’s new concealed carry statute, more than 55,000 Badger State residents applied for carry permits, and thousands more purchased handguns, apparently in anticipation of getting a permit.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, by mid-December, nearly 25,000 Wisconsinites had obtained their permits, and of the 296 who were denied by the State Department of Justice (DOJ), a lot of the denials were due to faulty paperwork including mismatched addresses. Less than two dozen were denied because of a serious disqualifying reason.
The Green Bay Gazette reported that the DOJ shifted people around to handle the rush in applications, and that additional staff had been hired.
Wisconsin’s experience is not unlike that of other states where concealed carry laws have been adopted or reformed to enable all citizens, rather than a select few elites, to obtain concealed carry permits and licenses. Gone is the discretion exercised by political police chiefs and sheriffs who must now, under what is called a “shall-issue” law, grant carry permits to any citizen of good standing who applies and qualifies under that jurisdiction’s requirements.
This rush to arm is a repudiation of the policies of former anti-gun Democrat Gov. Jim Doyle. He twice vetoed legislation over the past decade that would have created a concealed carry statute in Wisconsin. It took a change in governors and the political party in power in Madison, the state’s capitol, to get the job done.
Wisconsin’s state constitutional right to bear arms provision is relatively new, having been adopted in 1998. It is plainly understood: “The people have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose.”
Prior to adoption of the concealed carry law, Wisconsin residents had only open carry as a means of exercising their right to bear arms, but local police departments, especially in Milwaukee under anti-gun Police Chief Ed Flynn infamously announced in 2009 that he would ignore a finding by State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen that it was perfectly legal for citizens to peaceably carry firearms openly. Instead, Flynn told his troops, “…if you see anybody carrying a gun on the streets of Milwaukee, we’ll put them on the ground, take the gun away and then decide whether you have a right to carry it.”
Flynn’s attitude infuriated Wisconsin gun rights advocates, and they supported the election of Republican Scott Walker to the governor’s office. One of Walker’s first promised acts was to sign concealed carry legislation, which took effect Nov. 1, 2011.
The Wisconsin scenario is reflective of a national trend. By some estimates, more than 6.2 million Americans are licensed to carry concealed in 49 states, and that number is steadily climbing.
For example, take Washington State, where concealed carry has been on the books since 1935. For many years, the number of people holding concealed pistol licenses (CPL) in the Evergreen State hovered around 240,000, but over the past couple of years, that number has surged. In mid-2011, that state’s Department of Licensing reported 337,000 active CPLs in circulation. By August, that number climbed to 341,000, and in mid-December, the number was at almost 349,000, an increase of about 12,000 in about 6½ months.
That translates to a lot of hardware, yet the homicide rate in Washington State has not climbed sharply with the increased number of CPLs. Seattle’s homicide rate is at its lowest point in years.
There could be any number of contributing factors, such as continued fear about the economy, concerns over police response time due to highly-publicized cutbacks in service in many jurisdictions, and the recent Supreme Court rulings that affirmed the Second Amendment protects an individual civil right to keep and bear arms. Couple those rulings with state constitutional provisions, and it is clear to a majority of Americans that they have a right to own a gun, and increasing numbers of them are choosing to exercise that right.
The majority of states have adopted concealed carry laws that allow law-abiding citizens to obtain a permit or license without fear of being rejected at the last moment by some official after having jumped through all the legal hoops and met all the requirements. In the handful of states that retain arbitrary discretionary provisions, such as New York, New Jersey, Maryland and California, the Second Amendment Foundation is partnering with local groups to file lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of such provisions.
Illinois remains the only state without a provision of any kind that allows the carrying of firearms for personal protection outside the home.
Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, state officials told the Journal Sentinel newspaper that calls to the state’s “Handgun Hotline” had spiked sharply in 2011, up 53% over the same period in 2010. November was the heaviest month on record, with more than 10,600 inquiries, as the new law took effect.
Eventually, the rush will slow down in Wisconsin, but if the national trend is any indication, there will not be an ebb anytime in the foreseeable future. Badger State residents waited a long time for their concealed carry statute, and they are taking full advantage of it.
