On Point: 34. Bear Arms, 2nd Am.

Krysta Sutterfield v. City of Milwaukee, No. 12-2272 (7th Cir. May 9, 2014)

Nine hours after obtaining a § 51.15 emergency detention order, Milwaukee police officers forcibly entered Sutterfield’s home without a warrant, opened a locked container, and seized the handgun and concealed carry licenses that were in the container. Sutterfield filed a civil rights suit against them, but the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The Seventh Circuit affirms in a long (76-page) decision with plenty to digest, even though it declines to resolve some of the constitutional issues raised because they were not preserved or fully argued. The court does conclude the entry was justified because the police reasonably believed Sutterfield was going to harm herself. And the court assumes the search of the closed container and  seizure of the gun were unlawful, but holds the officers are immune from civil liability.

Robert W. Evans, Jr., v. Wisconsin Dep’t of Justice, 2014 WI App 31, overruled by Doubek v. Kaul, 2022 WI 31; case activity

A conviction for disorderly conduct under § 947.01 may qualify as a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(33)(A), thus depriving the defendant of the right to possess a firearm.

Evans’s application for a permit to carry a concealed weapon was denied after DOJ concluded his 2002 disorderly conduct conviction qualified as a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.”

Moore v. Madigan, 7th Circuit Nos. 12-1269 & 12-1788, 12/11/12

7th Circuit court of appeals decision

Illinois’s broad ban forbidding most persons to carry a gun that is loaded, immediately accessible, and uncased violates the Second Amendment:

We are disinclined to engage in another round of historical analysis to determine whether eighteenth-century America understood the Second Amendment to include a right to bear guns outside the home.

State v. Daniel Lee Rueden, Jr., 2011AP001034-CR, District 4, 6/7/12

court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); for Rueden: Eileen A. Hirsch, Kaitlin A. Lamb, SPD; case activity

Felon-in-possession, § 941.29, is not unconstitutional either facially or as applied in this instance; State v. Pocian, 2012 WI App 58, deemed controlling.

¶6        We need not discuss the specifics of Rueden’s facial and as-applied challenges because,

State v. Clarence E. Brown, 2011AP2049-CR, District 1, 4/17/12

court of appeals decision (1-judge, not for publication); for Brown: Daniel R. Drigot; case activity

Carrying Concealed Weapon, § 941.23 (2009-10) – Facially Constitutional

The court upholds the constitutionality of the prior version of § 941.23, CCW, as not violating the right to bear arms (since-modified, to allow conceal-carry under specified circumstances, 2011 WI Act 35). 

State v. Thomas M. Pocian, 2012 WI App 58 (recommended for publication); for Pocian: Martin E. Kohler, Craig S. Powell, Geoffrey R. Misfeldt; case activity

¶2        In 1986, Thomas M. Pocian was convicted of writing forged checks, a felony.  Twenty-four years later, Pocian was prosecuted under Wis. Stat. § 941.29, which prohibits a felon from possessing a firearm.  Relying on Heller and McDonald,

State v. Brian K. Little, 2011AP1740-CR, District 4, 1/26/12

court of appeals decision (1-judge, not for publication); for Little: Lane Fitzgerald; case activity

The court rejects  challenges to § 941.23, carrying concealed weapon, as facially violating the state and federal constitutional right to bear arms. (The statute presently allows concealed carry under specified circumstances, 2011 WI Act 35. Little was convicted under the prior version,

State v. Tiffany Michelle Flowers, 2011AP1757-CR, District 1, 12/13/11

court of appeals decision (1-judge, not for publication); for Flowers: Daniel A. Necci; case activity

Conviction for carrying a concealed weapon (gun in a purse, in a car), § 941.23, upheld against second amendment challenge to facial validity. Court rejects strict scrutiny test. (The statute was amended by 2011 Wis. Act 35, §§ 50-55, to allow among other things conceal-carry for licensees;

State v. Jeremy D. Pinnow, Milwaukee Co. Circ. Ct. No. 2010CM1978, 2/11/11

circuit court decision; case activity

Carrying concealed weapon charge dismissed, under as-applied (state) constitutional challenge, Art. I § 25. Pinnow had a cased, unloaded gun underneath the seat of his car, had himself been the recent victim of an armed robbery, believed with reason he was transporting the gun in a lawful manner, and wasn’t carrying the gun for an unlawful purpose.

State v. Joshua D. Schultz, Clark County Case No. 10-CM-138, 10/12/10

Clark County circuit court decision; for Schultz: William Poss, SPD Trial, Black River Falls

The complaint in this matter alleges that on June 10, 2010, the defendant was carrying a concealed weapon, a knife in the waistband of his pants which was covered by his shirt. The State alleges this is contrary to section 941.23, Wis. Stats.