The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty has secured repeal of the unconstitutional law banning possession of firearms near almost all waters in Wisconsin.
In 1999, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) created a rule banning the possession of firearms near “waters, banks or shores that might be used for the purpose of fishing.” The regulation was created with virtually no oversight shortly after Wisconsin passed Section 25, Wisconsin’s constitutional protection for the right to keep and bear arms. The regulation was seldom, if ever, enforced.
Due to a quirk in Wisconsin statutes, no one had to be arrested to challenge the regulation. Wisconsin statutes require a legal challenge to a regulation’s legitimacy to be filed before a person is arrested under the challenged rule. This seems an inversion of ordinary procedure for “standing” under the law. However, the Wisconsin statutory procedure is clear. In this case it facilitated the challenge to the unconstitutional regulation.
On June 6, 2024, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed a lawsuit demanding the Court permanently enjoin enforcement of the offending code, § NR 20.05(2). The Acting Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources had 45 days to respond to the summons created as part of the legal challenge. By this correspondent’s count, the deadline was July 22, 2024.
Click the link to read the whole article: Wisconsin DNR To Repeal Unconstitutional Ban
