Assn. targets Madison (Wisc.) P.D.

The following was received from Nik Clark, Chairman and President, Wisconsin Carry, Inc., an organization dedicated to open and concealed carry. Visit its website at http://www.wisconsincarry.org/

"Wisconsin Carry has filed a second lawsuit in response to the 'Madison 5' Culvers incident from last fall.

"To Recap:

"On Saturday, September 18, 2010, five (5) members of WCI met for dinner at a Culvers Restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin. Each of these individuals was openly carrying a handgun when they arrived at the restaurant, entered the restaurant and ordered and ate their meals. At or about the time that the WCI members finished their meal and left the restaurant, a woman in her car observed them openly carrying handguns and called 911 to report it to the City of Madison Police Department. The 911 caller informed the dispatcher that she didn't know if it was an emergency, the men were doing nothing wrong and appeared totally relaxed, weren't threatening anyone and the restaurant was full of people but they each had sidearms and she didn't know if that was legal.

"Upon being informed by the 911 dispatcher that open-carry is legal the woman stated 'then there is no problem and its not an emergency'. The dispatcher then suggests that if the woman is concerned or disturbed then it becomes a problem and the woman says 'no they weren't threatening anybody or acting threatening'.
When the dispatcher informs the caller they are sending officers she says 'well, I feel bad then because they weren't doing anything wrong.'

"Listen to the 911 call here:  http://www.wisconsincarry.org/video/Madison5-911.wav

"As these WCI members left the restaurant, they were accosted by eight(8) City of Madison police officers, who demanded that they produce identification, and threatened that if they did not do so, they would be arrested. From the time that these WCI members arrived at the restaurant up to and including the time that the police officers confronted them and demanded that they produce identification or face arrest, none of the WCI members violated any law, nor were they involved in any violent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud or otherwise disorderly conduct, nor did they through their conduct cause or provoke any disturbance.

"Wisconsin law does not allow officers to arrest for merely refusing to provide ID. 2 days later, Madison Police admitted the error in arresting and charging our members with obstruction, rescinded those tickets and instead, despite there being no disturbance, and no laws broken, issued disorderly conduct charges to all 5 of our members.

"Wisconsin Carry filed our first federal lawsuit against the Madison Police Department 10 days after the original incident to challenge the Madison Police Departments unconstitutional policy of arresting law-abiding OC'ers if a call/complaint comes in.  That lawsuit remains in front of the Federal Court in Madison.

"This second lawsuit is being filed as the disorderly conduct charges against the Madison 5 were dropped this past spring.  In this lawsuit WCI seeks damages on behalf of the Madison 5 for the unlawful detainment/ arrest including legal costs associated with preparing for the defense of the unlawfully issued disorderly
conduct citations.

"A copy of this lawsuit can be viewed here: www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/Madison5/Doc_1_Complaint.pdf

"Wisconsin Carry, a 100% volunteer non-profit corporation, will continue to use the federal court system to seek remedy for and deter instances where the rights of law-abiding Wisconsin residents who carry in the manner of their choosing, open or concealed (as of Nov. 1st when the new concealed carry law goes into effect) are violated."

Prior to the incident involving the "Madison 5" I had read an opinion from the Wisconsin Attorney General that a person carrying openly could not be charged with disorderly conduct just because he was carrying a gun, if he was not himself creating a disturbance. That certainly is a sensible and reasonable position. Open carry is the law in Wisconsin, and concealed carry will become the law on November 1.