Passengers are now officially able to carry concealed weapons on Madison buses, after the city’s transit committee updated its policy Wednesday to comply with state law.
The decision comes following a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling passed last month, which reversed an appeals court decision to maintain Madison Metro Transit’s previous policy of prohibiting weapons on buses. Wisconsin’s high court ruled that a city cannot enforce stricter weapon restrictions than the state.
Instead of changing the policy completely to include specific details of which weapons are allowed on buses and which are not, the Transit and Parking Commission agreed to change the wording of their policy to prohibit any weapons not allowed by the state on buses.
“The conclusion says that the city cannot regulate firearms more stringently than state law, and to the extent that the city’s policy is more stringent than state law, than it is not enforceable,” assistant city attorney John Strange said. “Our policy can remain exactly like it is, except where state law says that it is unenforceable."
The committee acknowledged that lack of specific details in the change could become confusing to people such as bus drivers in charge of enforcing metro rules. They proposed calling a bus dispatcher or the Madison Police Department to sort out what is legal and what is not.
Updated metro policy cards featuring the updated code of conduct will be displayed in the interior of fixed-route Metro vehicles.
The revision is effective immediately.
