Wisconsin Supreme Court: Madison Cannot Ban Handguns for Self-Defense on City Buses

On Tuesday the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Madison cannot ban handguns for self-defense on city buses.

The court voted 5-2 in favor of carrying guns for self-defense on the buses.

WKOW explained the source of the case in which the ruling was issued:

The Milwaukee-based group ‘Wisconsin Carry’ filed a lawsuit in 2014 challenging Madison Metro Transit’s ban on “weapons of any kind” on city buses. The group claims Madison’s Transit and Parking Commission can’t ban guns on buses under the state’s concealed carry law. Wisconsin Carry President Nik Clark said this is not just a 2nd amendment issue, but it’s also a civil rights issue. Clark said the right to defend yourself and use a gun is fundamental and the right to carry shouldn’t be just for people with their own transportation.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that a circuit judge and the Court of Appeals had sided with the Madison Metro Transit’s original arguments, wherein they suggested the preemptive language contained in Wisconsin’s concealed carry law “only applies to counties, cities, villages or towns adopting ordinances or resolutions more strict than the state’s gun law, and not to an  ‘agency rule’ of the transit commission.”

The Wisconsin Supreme Court saw it differently and handed down a “nearly 50-page opinion” written by Justice Daniel Kelly. In it, Kelly stressed that the court is “not merely arbiters of word choice” but “must apply the plain meaning of that statute.” He criticized the efforts to circumvent the statute, writing, “In the city’s reading of the statute, the Legislature made a conscious decision to withdraw firearms regulating authority from a municipality’s democratically accountable governing body while leaving that authority entirely undiminished when exercised by the municipality’s democratically unaccountable sub-units.”

John Monroe, the attorney for the Plaintiffs, responded to the ruling by saying, “The Supreme Court gave a thorough analysis of why the City of Madison lacks the authority to ban carrying guns on city buses. We are pleased with this decision and look forward to putting an end to Madison’s enforcement of its illegal rule.”

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.