It’s too early to tell what effect — if any — Wisconsin’s relatively new concealed carry law will have on preventing crime, Twin Lakes Police Chief Dale Racer said at a Twin Lakes Area Chamber and Business Association meeting Wednesday.
In fact the only crime stat that has seemed to change significantly in the time since concealed carry was passed in 2011 has been an increase in entry to vehicles, Racer said.
“I don’t know if people are breaking into vehicles to look for guns,” Racer said. More people may be leaving guns in cars because businesses can opt out of allowing concealed carry by posting a sign.
Racer was the guest speaker at the monthly chamber meeting at The Sand Bar and Island Grill.
In Twin Lakes concealed carry has not been a problem.
“Ninety nine percent of people here in Twin Lakes have been fine,” Racer said.
But Racer said he does have some concerns about the law and how it is structured.
When the law was passed, Racer said he was concerned that guns might be more handy during raod rage incidents, though he is not aware of that happening yet.
Racer said he also disagrees with the concealed carry permit requiring only four hours of classroom work. He said he feels some time shooting the gun on a range would be a good condition for obtaining a permit to carry a concealed gun. That would “make sure you shoot the gun and know how to use it.”
The lack of a range time requirement is why the Twin Lakes PD does not conduct concealed carry classes like some other police departments, including the Silver Lake Police Department, do. Racer is a certified firearms instructor.
“To me its just wrong, “Racer said of the lack of a range requirement.
While I will agree with the fact there should be shooting range time, and I think it should be a signifigant amount, using the road rage as an example of someone who may shoot a gun, is a bad call. If they are already that hot of head, and are going to be involved in a road rage incident, they could use their car as a weapon. They can pull a knife on someone and use that as a weapon too. The bottom line here is this: If you are going to commit a crime, you’re going to do it regardless of the weapon. Remember, criminals don’t care about laws in the first place.
I agree with the officer that range time should be mandatory. I took the FREE 4 hour class from “Wisconsin Carry” and the 18 hour hunter safety course. The 2 of these combined are not enough to be able to use a pistol in an emergency situation. A carrier should have at least +/- 20 hours of range time, and practice drawing the unloaded pistol at home.
The problem with the Chief of Police’s comment is the expects CCW to fail and not affect crime rates and can’t understand why it is working. In every state where CCW has been passed the crime rate has dropped. Criminals are cowards and aren’t looking for a fight but are looking for victims. The police are good at investigating crimes but cannot prevent or intercede in crimes simply because they can’t be everywhere at once.
Remember: When seconds count the police are only minutes away.
Obviously none of you were at the talk by the officer. He stated that he was for CCW and it was about time Wisconsin had the law. He mentioned that living in the Milwaukee area violent crime seemed to be low possibly because of the CCW law and the guessing game that a criminal may have to do now and that Twin Lakes hasn’t seen any issues as of yet, which was a good thing. As far as the road rage comment, he was comparing mental health issues where a person cannot get a CCW license to someone that has severe anger issues and stated that he could see road rage issues as an example not that it was an issue.
Though I’m totally for concealed carry rights and think it’s high time that Wisconsin gave people the option of concealed carry, I have to agree with the officer. There should be range time included with the instruction requirement. People who are new to guns need to respect them and learn gun safety and tactical handling.
I don’t think he was anti-gun at all, and he couldn’t say that the crime rate had dropped in that area because the law is new. What Debbie mentioned about his comments seems like a smart stance.