MADISON, Wis. -- Milwaukee's police chief said Tuesday he'll go on telling his officers to take down anyone with a firearm despite Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's finding that people can carry guns openly if they do it peacefully.
Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said he'll continue to tell officers they can't assume people are carrying guns legally in a city that has seen nearly 200 homicides in the past two years.
"My message to my troops is if you see anybody carrying a gun on the streets of Milwaukee, we'll put them on the ground, take the gun away and then decide whether you have a right to carry it," Flynn said. "Maybe I'll end up with a protest of cowboys. In the meantime, I've got serious offenders with access to handguns. It's irresponsible to send a message to them that if they just carry it openly no one can bother them."
Wisconsin is one of 29 states that allow people to openly carry a firearm without a permit. It's one of two states that ban concealed weapons.
Flynn's comments came as gun control advocates and state lawmakers derided Van Hollen's ruling.
"The idea of people ... openly carrying guns strikes me as somewhere between bonkers and totally ridiculous and stupid," said state Rep. Josh Zepnick, D-Milwaukee.