What specific Wisconsin statutes govern minors possessing rifles and the short‑barrel exception?

1. The baseline criminal rule: possession by persons under 18

Wisconsin’s primary statute on minors and weapons, § 948.60, states that “any person under 18 years of age who possesses or goes armed with a dangerous weapon is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor,” subject to enumerated exceptions that narrow the scope of the prohibition ^{[1] [4]}.

2. The carve‑outs: hunting, instruction, and supervised target practice

Section 948.60 explicitly exempts minors using dangerous weapons during target practice under adult supervision or while enrolled in traditional instruction under adult supervision, and also exempts members of the armed forces acting in the line of duty—language intended to accommodate hunter education and supervised activities ^{[3] [1]}.

3. The short‑barrel exception and how it controls the rifle/shotgun rule

Crucially, § 948.60(c) ties the statute’s application to whether a rifle or shotgun is in violation of § 941.28 or is out of compliance with the state hunting statutes §§ 29.304 and 29.593; in plain terms, the under‑18 possession prohibition “applies only … if the person is in violation of s. 941.28,” meaning short‑barreled weapons fall outside the ordinary hunting/instruction exceptions ^{[3] [4]}.

4. What § 941.28 says about short‑barreled rifles and the felony ban

Section 941.28 defines a “short‑barreled rifle” as having a barrel under 16 inches or an overall length under 26 inches and flatly prohibits sale, transport, purchase, possession or going armed with a short‑barreled rifle or shotgun—violations of § 941.28 carry their own penalties and are treated separately from the § 948.60 misdemeanor framework ^{[2] [5]}.

5. How the statutes interact in practice—and why some call it a loophole

Because § 948.60 limits its rifle/shotgun application to situations involving § 941.28 violations or noncompliance with hunting statutes, a long‑barreled rifle carried by a minor in circumstances that satisfy the hunting or instruction exceptions can fall outside the misdemeanor prohibition—an interpretation public reporting and legal commentators labeled a drafting “loophole” after high‑profile litigation tested those lines ^{[6] [7] [8]}.

6. Legislative and advocacy responses: clarification efforts

Legislative proposals such as AB817 sought to tighten § 948.60 by clarifying that possession of a short‑barreled rifle or shotgun by a person under 18 would void the hunting/instruction exceptions and to more plainly delineate which minors’ conduct is prohibited, reflecting recognition within the Legislature that existing language created ambiguity ^[9].

7. Practical contours: hunting statutes and hunter‑safety exceptions

The hunting statutes cited in § 948.60—§§ 29.304 and 29.593—establish age‑based rules for possession and hunting (including hunter education prerequisites), and satisfy the statutory path by which minors 12–16 may legally possess long guns in the service of hunting or hunter‑education activities; noncompliance with those sections pulls the conduct back under § 948.60’s prohibition ^{[10] [8]}.

8. Limits of the available reporting and where uncertainty remains

Reporting and statutory text make clear the statutory cross‑references and the short‑barrel definition, but nuanced application—e.g., how courts weigh overall intent, public carriage versus sole hunting transport, or interplay with federal law—is beyond the supplied materials and would require direct statutory text review, case law and regulatory guidance not included in these sources ^{[2] [1]}.