Laura Schulte
MADISON - Anglers can now carry guns while they fish in Wisconsin after lawmakers overturned a decades-old rule on Wednesday.
The Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules approved overturning the rule on a 7-3 vote without discussion.
The change comes after a conservative group highlighted the law last year and how it could potentially impact anglers who carried a gun for protection but didn't plan to use it on fish.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, WILL, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Travis Kobs in Sheboygan County seeking to repeal a state rule enacted by the Department of Natural Resources in 1999 barring anglers from possessing firearms that could be used for fishing.
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Since then, the rule has prevented anglers from being able to carry any sort of firearm while they fish on the water and along banks and shores.
WILL said the regulation possibly violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Kobs, according to the complaint, is an avid outdoorsman who also has a permit to conceal-carry a pistol for self-defense, which the regulation prevented him from doing while fishing.
The complaint also notes that musky fishing in Wisconsin can be dangerous, and until 1966, anglers often carried small guns to kill or incapacitate the fish before reeling them in. It also said Wisconsin's rules regarding fishing with firearms are some of the most restrictive in the nation.
Because there was a risk that a gun may be used for fishing, the regulation prohibited the possession of firearms completely.
After announcement of the lawsuit last year, the Department of Natural Resources pledged to repeal the rule, and said it already didn't enforce the rule. But, the agency said, anglers still won't be allowed to use guns to shoot fish, just simply carry them for protection.
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on X @SchulteLaura.
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