Gun Case laws

This was copied from the WBHA webpage:

November 4, 2011 MADISON – The Governor announced today that he will be signing two recently passed pro-hunting bills – SB 228 and SB 75 – into law this afternoon. The Gun Case Bill, SB 228, just passed through the Assembly yesterday. No longer will Wisconsin have the most restrictive gun case law in the country. It is currently illegal to lay an uncased and unloaded firearm on the trunk of your car as you tighten your boots. “Thanks to the Governor’s quick action in signing this legislation, hunters will be able to exercise safer handling of their firearms already in the 2011 deer season,” said Carl Schoettel, Vice President of the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association. “Wisconsin’s gun case law has been completely impractical and has done nothing but penalize hunters for an irrelevant action, giving Wisconsin the reputation of being unfriendly to hunters.” SB 228 is very straightforward, allowing hunters to have uncased and unloaded guns, bows and crossbows in or on their vehicle. Placing the firearm on or in the vehicle is often the safest and most practical place. Hunters should not have to put their firearm in the snow as they get out their gun-case every time they get back to their vehicle.

This is a great law!! Say what you want about law breakers.....with or without this law they will do what they want anyways!

  Why should we keep our bows in a case??? Stupid laws,,,glad its no longer......

Of course those western states can't be wrong. Wisconsin on the otherhand has a long standing tradition in some areas of the state to violate deer hunting laws. Some communities have even elected the most notorious violators to positions of power in local government. That said I believe they also elect some outlaws to state government positions. So this law realy doesn't surprise me. My .02 cents

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/es/enforcement/act51_faq.htm

Talked to a warden this afternoon. You may have a loaded, uncased firearm in your vehicle. You cannot load said firearm in your vehicle. You cannot drive with that loaded firearm. He was not pleased with the new law. He said there will be issues. I told him that law abiding people won't be the problem. The lawbreakers will just keep doing what they have been anyway.

the DNR can't be happy about losing all the easy money our gun case law brought in. like my 60 year old mother who got a $200 fine for having the last 1.5 inches of the zipper of her case unzipped. she couldnt've jumped out of that truck if it was on fire, let alone to shoot a deer.

Guns can be uncased while the vehicle is in motion but must be unloaded. But, as mentioned, poachers typically don't abide by the laws.

wildricepatty, I have to disagree with you on this one. Violators will violate regardless of the laws, it's now just easier for us who are law abiding to carry our weapons in vehicles. One thing that's really nice with this new law is that you can sling a rifle over your shoulder and ride a mountain bike back in the logging roads to get to a hunting spot. Before this new law you would need to have the gun cased while on a bike.

This law is practicle for a nonmoving vehicle, to allow uncased in a moving vehicle is empowering the poachers. prohunting bill my butt.

I can go deer hunting without my ATV, I just can't drag my buck across the swamp without buying my cardiologist a new car.

Good change. I know the ATV hunters will love it. After all, you can't go deer hunting without your ATV.

Sure going to come in handy after deer drives and during bear hunting.

I also like the fact that I won't have to worry about my gun boot on my ATV pushing my scope out of alignment - I can drive to near my stand without the back cover being on it. See-through mounts and a larger bell don't work so well on those older boots.

sb 228 is set to be published on nov 18th!

https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/related/proposals/sb228

im suprised there wasn't more commotion about this bill. im also very happy that the game wardens wont get sore necks from quickly trying to see if my gun is properly cased. i actually laughed out loud the last time i was checked - the guy practically broke his neck looking around me to see where my gun was. he was visibly disappointed when he discovered that it was in the back seat, well out of reach.

I agree with backing off on some of the gun case laws. If there is no suitable tree nearby I see nothing wrong with setting the gun on the tailgate or carefully leaning it against part of the truck. I've lived in other states & it's never been a problem. If you forget & drive over it, you've got problems. Don't set it where you may drive off without seeing it. Of course some get used to convention, & any change is a 'disregard for safety'.