Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Open Carry Victory

For Immediate Release:

On Sunday July 4th, 2010, a law abiding Wisconsin woman, who was open carrying
for personal protection during her daily activities, was illegally stopped and
taken from her vehicle at gunpoint by Brookfield Police Officers after she was
leaving a church service.

As open-carry is perfectly legal in Wisconsin and the officers were aware she (a
Wisconsin Carry member) had threatened no one and caused no disturbance, the
officers had no reasonable articulable suspicion (RAS) which the law requires,
to stop and detain our member against her will. In addition, by drawing their
guns on a law-abiding citizen who had done nothing wrong, the officers used an
unlawful threat of deadly force during their detainment of our member. The
police proceeded to, without reasonable suspicion or probable cause that any
crime had occurred, conduct an illegal and unconstitutional search of our
member's person and car. Our member was then unlawfully arrested and taken to
the Brookfield Police Department for processing.  No charges were ever filed.

On October 7th, 2010 Wisconsin Carry, Inc. filed a federal lawsuit against the
City of Brookfield and 4 officers involved in the illegal arrest/search of our
member.

A copy of that lawsuit can be viewed here:

http://www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/Brookfield/Doc_1_Complaint.pdf

Today, on behalf of Wisconsin Carry's thousands of members, in every county, all
across the state, and law-abiding citizens who legally exercise their right to
carry in Wisconsin we are pleased to announce that a judgment of $7,500 has been
entered in United States District Court against The City of Brookfield.  A copy
of this judgment can be viewed here:

http://www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/Brookfield/Doc_09_Offer_of_Judgment.pdf

http://www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/Brookfield/Doc_12_Judgment.pdf

This $7,500 judgment against Brookfield follows a judgment of $10,000 that was
entered against The City of Racine for a similar unlawful arrest of one of our
members and subsequent lawsuit filed by Wisconsin Carry, Inc. in January of
2010. A copy of that judgment can be viewed here.

http://www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/GFSZA_Legal_Documents/JudgmentAgainstRacine.pd
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Wisconsin Carry, Inc. currently has pending federal lawsuits against The City of
Madison, Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, The City of Milwaukee, The City of
Manitowoc, and the City of Greenfield for actions that violate the
constitutional rights of law-abiding Wisconsin residents who exercise their
right to carry.  A copy of those lawsuits can be viewed here:

http://www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/GFSZA_Legal_Documents/03_GFSZ_Complaint_A2.pdf

http://www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/Madison/MadisonComplaint.pdf

Wisconsin Carry, Inc. is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation
and reclamation of the rights of law-abiding Wisconsin residents to carry in the
manner of their choosing.  We believe that "open carry" and "concealed carry"
are choices to be made by law-abiding citizens based on their situation and
preference.  Wisconsin Carry, like many gun-rights organizations in Wisconsin,
is investing a great deal of resources to get Wisconsin law changed to allow
concealed carry this next legislative session by proposing Constitutional Carry.
Wisconsin Carry, Inc. will continue to use legal recourse to deter unlawful
treatment of law-abiding Wisconsin residents who currently exercise their right
to open carry, and soon will exercise their right to concealed carry in
Wisconsin.

Carry On,

Nik Clark
Chairman/President - Wisconsin Carry, Inc.
www.wisconsincarry.org
nik@wisconsincarry.org