...I awake every day reminded that the government I live under will never allow me to carry a weapon for self defense.
Move. Take your tax and investment dollars along.
It saddens me to suppose Wisconsin may be as deplorable a civil rights basket case as the People's Republic of California, but realistically speaking, it just might be a basket case.
I'm sorry to report the vast majority of people don't care one way or a dozen others about freedom, and that includes Americans.
I work in a shooting club that's a combination indoor range and gun shop. I carry openly all day long at work, and much of the rest of the time, too. Among numerous other duties, including cleaning the place, I give tours of the club to prospective new members.
Once in awhile, a potential joiner happens to notice my openly carried .357 or .44 magnum; on the whole, people appear not to notice my gun or anyone else's even in a gun shop until I mention it's perfectly okay for members to carry openly or concealed, loaded or unloaded, as long as people don't carry guns in hand.
Eyes light up. Bells bong. Again and again, people ask, "Really?" and I nod and smile and tell them: "We're all adults. We all have civil rights. We all respect one another."
I signed up a newbie about three weeks ago. He's already taken the Colorado-required "evidence of training" course. He's been in to shoot several times. He came in yesterday openly carrying a Glock, and strolled over to point it out to me with a big grin. He'd lived here nearly all his life, but hadn't known this is an open carry state. Now he's packing openly at the shooting range. He'll be carrying concealed as soon as his permit is delivered: typically about three weeks. By and bye, he'll reconsider joining the NRA, which I have a hunch still seems too "radical" an organization to him. Sooner or later, he'll probably even start writing letters to our elected misrepresentatives.
I taught the course earlier this week to a class of one: a tiny little great-grandmother in her eighties. I doubt she'll carry everywhere, but she took the course because a.) she'd never fired a gun in her life, and wanted to make sure she didn't shoot herself, and b.) she'd like to have the gun her late husband bought her in the car when she goes on trips.
Speaking strictly for myself, I'm accomplishing a lot more than if I'd stayed in the People's Republic of California, and having 593.407% more fun, too.