Locked and loaded: A look into how you might be able to carry a gun

Reporter: Chris BaylorEmail Address: chris.baylor@weau.com
The Wisconsin State Assembly plans to vote on whether to legalize concealed weapons next week. The senate passed it earlier this week and Governor Scott Walker says he'll sign it into law if it hits his desk.

With conceal carry making its way through the capitol; we wanted to know how the permit process will work. The bill being debated in Madison says the Department of Justice will handle the background checks and licensing but exactly how and what you'll need to submit is still being worked out.

A lot of people are getting locked and loaded ahead of a possible new conceal carry law.

"From a retail stand point handguns make up a big part of our sales now. They used to make up only about 25-30% now handguns make up 75% of our sales," says Owner of The Gun Exchange, Tom Gilbert.

He says conceal carry has been the talk of the store but one of the question has been, how will this work. The Wisconsin DOJ says the details are still being worked out. Right now it says if the bill becomes law, to start out the DOJ will have forms online for you to submit, something the Eau Claire County Sheriff says is a good idea.

"They do that for other professions, doctors, lawyers and others professionals so this would not be new to the DOJ to do this service," says Sheriff Ron Cramer.

Cramer says past bills have stated sheriff's departments would handle the background checks like other states.

“All indications from Minnesota, Florida, some of the states that have conceal carry where the sheriff's were doing the background checks; there was a flurry of applications at the start. My concern was the turnaround with the limited staff we have to be able to handle something of that nature," says Cramer.

Gilbert says along with buying guns, people are looking to learn how to use them safely.
"The popular guns are made for personal protection to carry and training stuff small caliber .22 and things for people to train with, there's been a lot of questions about training and education," says Gilbert.

The DOJ says if the bill passes it will evaluate other options to make the application process easier for anyone interested.

http://www.weau.com/news/headlines/Locked_and_loaded_A_look_into_how_you_might_be_able_to_carry_a_gun_124048299.html

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