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Foster Parents Largely Win Wisconsin Second Amendment Case

From the 36K-word decision in Laffery v. Pertl, by Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge Maria Lazar, joined in part by...

Reason By Eugene Volokh Aug 3, 2026, 1:02 PM Captured Aug 3, 2026, 1:25 PM

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Source excerpt

8,102 extracted characters

Pertl, by Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge Maria Lazar, joined in part by Judges Lisa Neubauer and Mark Gundrum:

Appellants and foster parents, Brian and Katie Lafferty appeal the circuit court's order on cross-motions for summary judgment executed in favor of respondents Jeff Pertl and Julie Driscoll as well as the court's decision and order denying the Laffertys' motion for a protective order.

The Laffertys have been seeking to exercise their state and federal constitutional rights for five years while the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) and Washington County Human Services Department (the County) have dithered, moved the goal posts, and changed the rules of the game every step along the way.

The Laffertys' current appeal challenges several regulations … regarding the renewal of their foster home license, which they contend are facially unconstitutional.

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Framing report

Origin wording grade

B 14/100 risk

Grade B reflects 14/100 framing risk from decision pressure, editorial voice; each finding below is tied to stored wording.

Report confidence: 84%
Content format: opinion
Evidence findings: 3
Sentences checked: 40
Method: origin-framing-v2

Outlet context is separate libertarian-right (+55, 60% confidence). This profile does not change the article grade.

Evidence behind the grade

Decision pressurebody

+5 · 82% confidence

In 2020, Washington County began to require compliance with additional restrictions before a license could be renewed, including: (1) a storage requirement that mandated firearms be stored, in a location not readily accessible to children, locked and unloaded in the home and in a separate location from ammunition; (2) a carry ban that prohibited a foster parent with a conceal carry license from carrying a weapon in the presence of foster children; and (3) a disclosure requirement that mandated foster parents must list all firearms currently (and some formerly) owned, and to identify their locations and the separate location of ammunition.

The wording urges a conclusion or action rather than only describing the reported facts. Its weight is reduced because this article is identified as opinion.

Decision pressurebody

+5 · 82% confidence

We also conclude the requirement that foster parents' firearms be stored unloaded as a condition of obtaining a foster parent license violates both the federal and state constitutions and must be struck from the administrative rule.

The wording urges a conclusion or action rather than only describing the reported facts. Its weight is reduced because this article is identified as opinion.

Editorial voicebody

+4 · 68% confidence

Such a gun safe is clearly an area that is not readily accessible to children…. [W]e conclude that the most reasonable reading of the new rule requires only one locked area, that the steel gun safe restriction is not a [required] secondary safety measure, and that the steel gun safe restriction fulfills the requirement for storage where the firearm is locked and inaccessible to foster children even if the safe is not located in some other locked "area." And, because the Laffertys have waived their arguments against having only one lock, we need not apply the Bruen-Wolford test, and we need not consider whether historical analogues allow for this restriction.

The sentence states an evaluation in the narrator's voice instead of attributing it to a named source. The cue appears in attributed or quoted language, so its score is reduced.

Useful context, not penalties

Opinion format 1
Argumentative wording is expected in this format, so narrator-voice and decision-pressure cues receive reduced weight.
Uncertainty qualifiers 1
Qualifiers such as may, might, or reportedly are disclosed as technique but do not add framing-risk points by themselves.

In 2020, Washington County began to require compliance with additional restrictions before a license could be renewed, including: (1) a storage requirement that mandated firearms be stored, in a location not readily accessible to children, locked and unloaded in the home and in a separate location from ammunition; (2) a carry ban that prohibited a foster parent with a conceal carry license from carrying a weapon in the presence of foster children; and (3) a disclosure requirement that mandated foster parents must list all firearms currently (and some formerly) owned, and to identify their locations and the separate location of ammunition.
Attributed framing cues 1
Attributed or quoted cues remain visible, but their score contribution is reduced to avoid assigning a speaker's wording to the reporter.

Such a gun safe is clearly an area that is not readily accessible to children…. [W]e conclude that the most reasonable reading of the new rule requires only one locked area, that the steel gun safe restriction is not a [required] secondary safety measure, and that the steel gun safe restriction fulfills the requirement for storage where the firearm is locked and inaccessible to foster children even if the safe is not located in some other locked "area." And, because the Laffertys have waived their arguments against having only one lock, we need not apply the Bruen-Wolford test, and we need not consider whether historical analogues allow for this restriction.

What this grade does and does not mean

This grade evaluates wording and reader-steering cues, not factual accuracy.
The outlet's general profile is separate context and does not affect this article grade.
Potential omissions require comparison with other reporting and are not graded from one article alone.