Here's what I don't get. If concealed carry is such a good idea and is going to make us all safer, why exempt government buildings where lawmakers work?

Or schools for that matter. Think how much safer the kids will be if someone with a gun happens to be around if trouble breaks out in the lunch line or third-hour study hall. You know, it takes a vigilante to raise a child.

If more guns equal more protection, then let's go for it and quit watering down the rules. Maybe we can even start handing out firearms like we do bike helmets and smoke alarms.

It's time for Wisconsin to join the rest of America and allow us to walk around with powerful guns in our pants. We may need to change the license plates to America's Carryland.

Republican legislators are moving quickly to make it happen, and this time they don't have to worry about Jim Doyle getting all prudent and reasonable and vetoing the thing. Lawmakers pretended to care what the public thinks at two hearings on the issue Thursday.

I'd hate to see the legislators in Madison miss out on this vital protection in their own building. I'm assuming they're going to be armed, too, because that's the best way to ensure you'll survive the workday. So if any of these Madison lefties would bring a weapon into the Capitol, they'd be outgunned. You can see how much safer everyone will be.

We could stop wasting everyone's time with these security checkpoints at Milwaukee County Courthouse entrances. This building, too, deserves the same premium level of protection that concealed carry will bring. An armed courthouse is a polite courthouse. And people wouldn't have to surrender their tweezers and knitting needles anymore.

And what's with exempting police stations? They should think of everyone walking through the door as a newly armed deputy, not a potential 10-32 in progress.

Meanwhile, domestic abuse shelters would have no such prohibition. See? They get it. Everybody knows guns save lives.

Think of all the businesses that foolishly will opt to ban firearms from their premises as allowed by the proposed law. Don't they know this just dares criminals to come on in and help themselves? It's sad that they would deny their customers the chance to blast away at punks or people who look like they could be punks.

One of the concealed carry bills says there's no need for training or a permit. Now we're talking. Training schmaining, and I would add permits schmermits. It's going to take some trial and error to get our aim straight, but we don't need big nanny state government telling us it might be better if we had some minimum level of firearms proficiency.

A permit would be required even to keep chickens in Milwaukee under a proposed ordinance, but Wisconsin is considering allowing concealed carry without one. We'll let the bad guys be the chickens when they think they might be up against a statewide army of untrained and unscreened gun toters. Going off half-cocked? You bet your life we are. Seriously, your life.

We might as well let felons carry concealed weapons while we're at it. They're easily more experienced with guns than the rest of us, and they're not afraid to use them. Let's give them a second chance to be the guys in the white hats for a change.

And who are we to tell the mentally ill they have to go through life without ready access to lethal firepower? Do you see anything about that in the Second Amendment?

Don't be left out of the party. Get yourself a gun and some ammo, and let's make Wisconsin truly the home of the packers.

Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or email at jstingl@journalsentinel.com