Here is a portion of the column I wrote last week for Dome Magazine:
A high-profile shooting occurs somewhere in America. The
nation responds with disgust. Questions abound whether the killings could have
been prevented. The shooter is revealed as someone with known mental health
problems or hateful, violent tendencies.
Officials, activists and ordinary Americans grapple with
this circular series of travesties and wonder: Why didn’t somebody say
something, issue some type of warning in advance that the guy responsible for
the shootings was unstable and not capable of being a responsible gun owner?
Yet, in Michigan a change in law that takes effect Tuesday
will make it much less likely that the emotionally unhinged will be blocked
from obtaining a gun permit to carry a concealed weapon on the streets.
Law enforcement discretion removed
of three local law enforcement officials — that have exercised discretion for
nearly 90 years in approving these concealed-pistol permits. Instead, county
clerks, in conjunction with the Michigan State Police, will automatically grant
approval to someone who wants to pack heat, based on a successful application
and a criminal background check.
Critics say shutting down the county Concealed Weapons
Licensing Boards will eliminate local control and take away the judicial-like
discretion of the three board members – the sheriff, the prosecutor and a local
representative from the state police. These boards, in preparation for their
monthly hearings, secure detailed material on first-time applicants that goes
beyond arrests and convictions.
Look a person in the eye
person doesn’t have a criminal record, if he was the kind of guy who every
Friday night got drunk at a local bar and got into a fight in the parking lot,
you sure don’t want to put a (concealed) gun into his hands,” said former
Macomb County prosecutor, Carl Marlinga, the pioneer of Michigan’s loosened gun
permit rules that took place in 2001.
To be clear, those who hold a concealed pistol license (CPL), in Michigan or in
35 other states where they are readily available, have not been linked to mass
shootings or a propensity toward reckless gun play.
But Michigan law enforcement officials worry that the new
system is tempting fate – and possibly inviting a tragedy –by adopting a “one
size fits all” approach to handing out gun permits.
