The constitutional … right to keep and bear arms, Article I, Section 25 of the Wisconsin Constitution, passed in 1998. It makes bearing arms a right, rather than a privilege, just like the right to free speech.

Just like free speech, we should not expect to have to purchase a permit or jump through bureaucratic hoops to exercise our freedoms. Some who oppose law-abiding fellow citizens from bearing arms would like to pretend that the Constitutional amendment was never passed. They are bringing up the same old arguments they offered back in the ’90s. Those arguments are now irrelevant. Our statutes must now conform to the constitution. That is how the system is supposed to work.

Jim Maas
April 17, 2011
Jim Maas column: Concealed carry is a right
[That is the way it is supposed to work but just like with the Jim Crow laws the bigots make it as difficult as they possibly can for minorities to exercise their rights. We have a lot of work to do to reach true equality.—Joe]