Open carry under attack in Milwaukee

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This been difficult month for open carry advocates in the city of Milwaukee. Last week a man described as an open carry advocate by the name of Jesus Gonzalez was convicted of reckless homicide. Exactly what happened in the Gonzalez case may never be clear. He claims he was assaulted by two men who were seen drunk and aggressive at a bar just minutes before the shooting. Gonzalez promptly called 911 and submitted peacefully to police. Since the two shooting victims were drunk and Gonzalez did not take the stand in his trail, the jury opted to convict Gonzalez on the lesser charge of reckless homicide. Reckless homicide carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in the state of Wisconsin. The verdict was handed down just days before concealed carry became the law of the land in Wisconsin.

Then there is the case of Krysta Sutterfield, who was arrested Friday at 1am outside of the Sherman Perk coffee shop in Milwaukee. She was charged with loitering and resisting an officer. She was openly carrying a firearm at the time of her arrest. She was using the WiFi connection of Sherman Perk in her parked car, something she had permission from the owner to do. Sutterfield had been arrested once before for a situation surrounding her practicing her right to open carry. In July of last year Sutterfield was arrested and charged with carrying a loaded gun in her vehicle, not a crime. after practicing open carry at a Brookfield church. After suing she was awarded $7,500 for wrongful arrest. The US Constitution allows for citizens to openly carry firearms unless they are on property that has signs posted prohibiting weapons on the property or if the person open carrying is directly asked to leave by the property owner. Neither happened in either case with Ms. Sutterfield. The Sutterfield case comes on the heals of confrontational words by Milwaukee's Police Chief Ed Flynn regarding both open and concealed carry as I covered in this article: The dirty secret of Wisconsin's concealed carry.

Both of these cases suggest that law enforcement in the Milwaukee area would like to send the message that open carry is not an option for even law abiding citizens. It also sends the message that even though open carry is a right spelled out in the 2nd amendment of the US Constitution, Milwaukee area police will arrest citizens on trumped up charges and sort out the matter latter in court.

It will be interesting to see how the local open carry advocates react. I believe that it is unlikely that they will back down but rather have their rights confirmed in the courts as many times as it takes for the Milwaukee Police department to recognize the constitutional right and change the culture in the city.

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