So, awesome, now we have the right to carry in Wisconsin, we can feel much safer that finally the bad guys have to really give some thought to who or where they attack, right. WRONG! But wait, you say, if people are carrying concealed, how do the bad guys know who is and who isn't? Well, it's easy. Just walk up to any number of businesses and today you'll see signs in the windows or by the front doors saying something like:
NO Guns, Knives, or other Weapons allowed on premises
Hmm. If I'm a bad guy, this is like Christmas early! Wisconsin business owners you just promised the bad guy that he can enter your business relatively assured that he's the only one who is carrying (because the law-abiding among us will either not enter, or if we happen to work there and have no choice, will have to leave our gun in our car as the law instructs), and if you have anything of value, you just put a target on your business. If I'm a crook, you know what I'm looking for? That sign. Because to me it says, "Welcome, come on in, do whatever you want, no one here is capable of stopping you until you're out of ammo."
I know, you're afraid of the legal ramifications of what could happen if someone did attack in your business and someone else defended. Have you read the law? You're protected. You the business owner have no liability when a licensed concealed-carry weapon owner has to draw or use the gun. It's in the bill, please read it. Or maybe you just think guns are icky and only the police and the military should have them. Hey, in a perfect world I'd be almost willing to go along with that. But we left perfect in the rear-view mirror a long, long time ago. Take away the guns of the law-abiding citizen, and only three groups have guns: the police, the military, and criminals. The police can't protect you, and it's foolish to think they can. The military are busy with other things. And the criminals, well, you know.
It's dangerously naive to think that criminals are going to abide by gun laws or restrictions. Frankly, I've yet to have someone explain that expectation to me in a way that makes a lick of sense. You see, we call them "criminals" because they don't abide by the law. So what makes you think that your little sign is going to change that?
I am frankly very nervous about this whole thing. I am going to be rather anxious about being in a place that has this kind of sign posted, much in the same way I'd be nervous about being in a neighborhood where I thought the people around me might be carrying illegally when I had no gun. By posting these signs, you have not made us safer, you have actually potentially put us (and yourself) in more danger. You haven't taken the time to understand concealed carry, to learn the facts and understand that it's not the gun but the person carrying it that makes it dangerous. It's not the law-abiding concealed carry permit holder you should be worrying about. If no life and death situation ever happens in your business, you'd never even know who we are anyway.
You can't put the genie back in the bottle; as much as you might like there to be no guns, the bad guys have them. And if you make it so only the bad guys have them, then guess what? They're going to be even more bold because they know they have nothing to worry about for the 20 minutes it takes the police to arrive.
I don't have a choice. When I got to work this morning, I saw that sign. I have to go there. (Let me be clear: I am extremely grateful for my job and I will comply because, like I said, I am a law-abiding citizen.) But I will not be taking my family to any place of business that posts this kind of sign because I am not going to put them in danger just to assuage some business-owner's conscience about something where they're apparently not going to let the facts and evidence get in the way of a good opinion.
