Manasquan, NJ -(Ammoland.com)- His walk in the park was no walk in the park, so to speak, but a Wisconsin man’s public stand against unlawful open-carry restrictions seems to be having the desired effect: his county is changing its policy.
The man, Bill Polster, recorded himself on a walk through Calumet County WI Park last month while he carried two guns, and after 10 minutes, he was confronted by law enforcement.
Polster swears near the beginning of the encounter as he realizes one of the officers is aiming a rifle at him.
“Don’t point that f***ing gun at me!” he yells. ”He’s got a gun pointed at me, that’s bulls***!”
The other officer tells Polster that county ordinance prohibits carrying loaded firearms through the park, and while Polster is able to cite state laws that should supersede the county rules, the officer nevertheless takes and unloads both of Polster’s weapons.
Content warning: strong language.
The officer winds up giving Polster a warning for the incident.
After video of the incident was posted to YouTube, county officials met, reviewed the rules and decided that the county ordinance would need to be updated to comply with state law, WLUK-TV reported.
And while the new ordinance — which is expected to ban hunting in the park but allow open carry — won’t be drawn up until September, Chief Deputy Brett Bowe of the Calumet County Sheriff’s Office told WLUK that the sheriff’s department would not enforce the old blanket ban.
“Obviously there is no hunting in the county park,” Bowe said. “Those were covered under that ordinance. We’re going to have to redo that ordinance to cover those specifically while allowing open-carry.”
And while Polster said the officers who confronted him could have handled the situation better (and he also apologized for his own swearing, saying he was “not proud of the vulgarity”), Bowe defended his officers’ work.
“They handled the incident appropriately,” Bowe said, adding, “Once [Polster] understood what we were doing, he was cooperative with that, and we handled it right there.”
If the county goes through with the ordinance change, halting open-carry is a situation police won’t have to handle again.
H/T Blaze,
Rights are like easements, if you decline to exercise them, you lose them over time.
Anyone doing “open carry”,, in a public place is automatically a TARGET!!!,, and an idiot,, trying to gain publicity.. EGO STUPID…,, if a crime is being committed, ,the “CONCEALED CARRY” GUY,, can solve the situation,, simply and effectively,, utilizing the element of SUPPRISE!!!,, and effective,, accurate shooting.!!!
WW.
I am a super Second amendment defender–but doing dumb stuff to push a point (if that is the goal) is just dumb. The guy with his gun is near a playground! And while the cops should not point at him it is prudent they deploy as they did and have the cop with the rifle in a ready position. And the strictest law trumps the least strict law. If his state says it is legal but the county says it is not–county wins! I think he got handled pretty courteously. I sometime open carry in our area (it is legal)… Read more »
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. The deputies did a great job, could have been disastrous for all involved, right or wrong.
I agree with durabo, antagonizing the constabulary is not the way to go but in this instance the end result was successful. Honest citizens should not be afraid of another citizen with a gun unless acting in a suspicious manner. Carrying a long gun as well as a pistol on a playground will take some getting used to.
1. Fifteen minutes of leisure walking are excessive for this report
2. Citizen is right, even though ambush journalism is abhorrent to me. Citizen’s First, Second and Fourth Amendment rights were violated
3. We gunnies won the battle, but we may be losing the propaganda war. I consider that the score from this “interview” is GUNNIES 40, ANTI-GUNNERS 60