Emergency rules for issuing concealed carry permits will remain in effect through this fall. A legislative committee on Thursday unanimously approved a request to keep those rules in place through October 16th.
Steven Means with the Department of Justice says the extension is needed while it waits for the approval of a permanent set of rules. The DOJ has completed work on the permanent rules and sent them to Governor Walker earlier this week. The governor says they are currently under review, but he has not set a timeline for acting on them.
If the emergency rules had been allowed to expire this coming weekend, Means says the agency would still be able to issue licenses. However, he says it could make it difficult to revoke a license if someone no longer qualifies to have one.
There are also concerns that not having rules in place could wipe out reciprocal agreements for permits between Wisconsin and other states where concealed carry is allowed.
Over 122,000 concealed carry permits have been issued by the state since the law took effect last November.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (1:02)