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Responding to a lawsuit filed on behalf of a local sportsman, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has agreed to strike a law that bars fishermen from carrying firearms while on the water, according to the Wisconsin Law Journal. The legal group that filed the suit argued that the law violated Wisconsinites’ Second Amendment rights. The law was first established 25 years ago as a fishing regulation to keep anglers from shooting muskies, which had been a popular practice in previous decades.
The lawsuit, filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty in June, names Sheybogan Falls resident Travis Kobs as the plaintiff and DNR Secretary Steven Little as the defendant. WILL claims in its suit that Kobs is an avid sportsman with a concealed carry permit who wanted to carry his 9mm pistol for protection against animals while fishing this summer but was worried about running afoul of the law, which states:
“No person may possess or control any firearm, gun or similar device at any time while on the waters, banks or shores that might be used for the purpose of fishing.”
WILL associate attorney Skylar Croy argued in the lawsuit that the DNR’s administrative rule is “especially broad” because technically, any gun might be used for fishing. He pointed out that while other states have reasonable regulations prohibiting the actual use of a firearm to take fish, Wisconsin’s law prohibiting the actual possession of a firearm by an angler goes too far — especially in light of the state’s open and concealed carry laws that were passed in 2011.
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Croy also argued that the rule is redundant and therefore unnecessary. Wisconsin law already prohibits fishing “by any means other than hook and line except as specifically authorized.”
There is, however, some interesting history behind the law, and Croy gives some background on how it came to be. He explains that up until the 1960s, “fishermen commonly shot muskies with a small-caliber pistol while the musky was hooked but before reeling it in all the way.” They did this primarily to avoid getting cut up by the fish’s sharp teeth. (This was also before catch-and-release fishing really caught on, and anglers rarely released muskies alive back then.)
Photo by Outdoor Life
“It was not uncommon to see a fisherman walking about wearing a side arm, almost as if it were a badge of identification as to his pursuit,” Croy writes in the lawsuit, referencing amateur historian and fishing guide John Dettloff’s book about Louie Spray, a local muskie-fishing legend.
Croy explains that the practice had fallen out of favor and was deemed unsportsmanlike by the Conservation Commission (the DNR’s predecessor) by around 1965. The following year, the agency established a rule prohibiting the use of firearms to take fish. Croy says in 1999, as the DNR was rearranging and clarifying its fishing regulations, the agency rewrote the 1966 “predecessor rule” into its current form.
The DNR did not challenge WILL’s assertions in the lawsuit. Sometime on or before July 22, Secretary Little notified the court that he intends to repeal the law “as soon as practicable and without delay.”
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In a statement shared with the Wisconsin Law Journal on July 24, a DNR spokesperson confirmed the upcoming change. They also acknowledged that although the law has remained on the books since 1999, the agency hasn’t been enforcing it since the state adopted new gun laws around open and concealed carry in 2011.
“The [court] proceedings have been stayed to allow the department an opportunity to repeal the provision,” the spokesperson said. “It remains illegal to use a firearm, gun or similar device to harvest a fish … [and] the department will continue to enforce the laws that prohibit unauthorized methods of fishing.”