Madison Metro Bans Firearms on Buses Despite Conceal Carry Law

Madison Metro Transit has imposed a ban on carrying concealed firearms with permits on their buses. It is a public service institution and not a private enterprise where the latter has the freedom of choice to choose to have a No Firearms policy. The Wisconsin Statute 66.0409 prohibits political subdivisions of the state including cities, villages, towns, and counties from enacting or adopting resolutions that regulate the possession, bearing, and transportation of firearms unless those ordinances or resolutions are the same as, similar to, and no more stringent than, a state statute.

Wisconsin Carry, Incorporated sent a letter to the Madison Metro Transit authority on November 19^th, 2013 to protest the prohibition of law-abiding people with permits to carry concealed firearms to exercise their Second Amendment Rights according to the federal and state constitution. The letter was an attempt to avoid litigation against the city of Madison at the expense of taxpayers, which the city officials have ignored. A civil lawsuit was filed on January 9^th, 2014 in Dane County Circuit Court.

The right to keep and bear arms is a right guaranteed by both our State and Federal Constitutions. Property rights have fallen through the decades.

Despite Governor Scott Walker winning the election and succeeding in the fight against trade unions hindering citizens right to work and other issues; he has not instrumented nor has the state assembly members rescinded the law signed by the previous governor, Jim Doyle that unlawfully bans smoking from privately owned businesses like motels, inns, restaurants, saloons and bars without affording the owners the right of freedom of choice. It is now 2014 and that draconian law that violates property rights continues to violate rights and liberties of business owners across the state of Wisconsin. In the past, business owners have solved the issue by offering a no-smoking area in their establishments for those who do not want to be around people that use tobacco products. In addition, the state of Wisconsin has one of the highest tobacco tax rates among the fifty states, that clearly is using taxation as a punishment and means of social engineering against a legal product. The issue is not whether or not tobacco use is good for you, and certainly the law that forbids underage citizens to purchase tobacco products is something that the majority of citizens can agree upon; but a clear violation of freedom of choice and in the case of business owners, property rights.

Today tobacco, tomorrow another legal product that the government has decided not to allow citizens to use. When it comes to progressive liberals, where is the line drawn as to which rights and liberties are recognized and which are not. Who decides this what rights and liberties are recognized?

Just as a business owner has the right to decide whether they allow firearms on their premises, so should they have the freedom of choice to choose whether smoking is allowed, or smoking is allowed in a certain area or not at all. It all comes down to the rights and liberties prescribed by constitutional law that all state governments must abide by.

Wisconsin Carry, Inc. is a non-profit organization that is:

Dedicated to the preservation and reclamation of the basic human rights critical to a free society. … governments exist to protect the rights and of individuals, and that governments derive their power from the consent of the governed. ...and... believe that “Open-Carry” and “Conceal Carry” are choices to be made by law-abiding citizens based on what suits their needs best.

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