imported post
Well I wouldn't put anything past the West Allis Police Department, but I think that might be a little stretch to consider the return of Brad's gun to be a setup for a CCW charge. First, after the Hamdan decision, to have a concealed weapons in one's home or place of business is legal. Not that the West Allis PD would know that, since they clearly didn't know that OC is legal too. The Keith decision was made prior (1993) to both Article 1, Sec 25 (1998) and the Hamdan decision(2003). The Keith decision is valid insofar as it lays out the elements of a concealed weapon, but it wouldn't apply any longer to someone with a concealed weapon in those places where concealed weapons are now allowed i.e., "in settings in which the person bearing the concealed weapon is an owner of the property on which he or she goes
armed" and "one's home or privately owned business."
If the PD charged Brad with CCW on his own property, they would be setting themselves up for further embarassment. The greatest embarassment ought to lie with the city attorney's office for their ill-considered prosecution of Brad. The police are not required to understand the law as well as an attorney ought to understand the law.
The city was not "found guilty of infringing on [Brad's] constitutional rights." The judge merely found that Brad's activity did not amount to disorderly conduct. Having sat through the hearing and the decision and listened closely to the judge, I believe he made it clear that he thought Brad was constitutionally protected, but the judge's ruling was not on the constitutional aspect of the case. He clearly stated that, as a municipal judge, he wished to avoid ruling on constitutional issues and he did exactly that.
I do completely agree with you, Lammie, about the report that there was a threat or warning to Brad about having a gun in the future. I would suspect that it is an idle threat, but who wants to call the bluff when it is the police doing the bluffing? I would consider such a threat to be unconstituional and illegal. I would seek a restraining order against them, and file a lawsuit. As Hugh Jarmis suggests, "suing the piss" out of them has a lot going for it. Instead of warnings and threats, the only appropriate thing the police ought to have offered Brad is a sincere apology.