No Four-Hour Training Required for Conceal Carry Applicants

With more than 20,000 state residents applying for a conceal carry permit in the last week, it doesn't appear many people had an issue with a required four-hour training course.

The Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules, however, thinks differently. Members voted against the rule put in place by State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen after he testified in support of the training. In part, Van Hollen said the Department of Justice would be hard-pressed to confirm whether or not any of the applicants had any training at all without the requirement.

"There's no reason why we have to micromanage how people obtain their concealed carry permit,'' said Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend in a story from the Associated Press. More, states without minimum requirements don't have a problem and Grothman said he doesn't see Wisconsin having one, either.

The National Rifle Association has long been in support of the conceal carry law and lobbied against the training, saying it was too strict.

Committee member Chris Tayler (D-Madison) voted to keep the rule.

"Without the provisions of four hours, we have a subjective standard that anybody is going to be able to meet,'' Taylor said in the same story. "I don't know why on earth this committee would want to jeopardize public health and public safety by doing this.''

Governor Scott Walker signed off on the DOJ rules just two weeks before the new law went into effect. According to a DOJ spokesperson, 1,669 conceal carry permits have been approved and 339 have been rejected thus far.