County gun boards like this one would be scrapped under Sen. Mike Green's pending bill. GUN CONTROL? Public Nearly Universally Opposes New Laws: PBS Poll
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Like throwing a fistful of firecrackers in a blazing fireplace, mentioning guns sparks immediate, heated debate.
However, the facts are hard to come by in the midst of all the explosive opinions. And the nuances of the issue are seemingly endless.
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) took a poll in December 2014 to determine public attitudes about gun control, an issue now being debated in Michigan in regard to how gun licenses are approved.
The PBS poll response was electrifying: About 125,000 persons responded and nearly 95 percent were against any new regulations. Here are the results:
Yes. Increased regulations on firearms are necessary to prevent another tragedy like the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary. 4.16% (5,290 votes)
No. Laws like this unnecessarily punish lawful gun owners and will do little to prevent mass shootings. 94.69% (120,359 votes)
Unsure. It's important to keep the weapons out of the wrong hands, but this may not be the solution. 1.15% (1,457 votes)
Obviously, the National Rifle Association(NRA) has done its public relations and lobbying job well. So people apparently have "bought" the simplistic argument that a "good guy with a gun is the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun."
An official of the Michigan Association of Counties (MAC) said it remains opposed to the current proposals to junk county gun boards because local leaders believe they unnecessarily take away local control of gun permitting.
Dana Gill, a MAC governmental affairs associate, told The Detroit News the county gun board system "works appropriately to ensure both access and safety."
In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shootings when 26 died in 2012, Connecticut:
*made background checks universal for all gun and ammunition purchases;
*limited the ability of the mentally ill to purchase guns;
*outlawed more than 100 additional assault weapons, including the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle that Adam Lanza used in the Sandy Hook shooting; and
*banned large capacity magazines holding more than 10 rounds.
Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy pointed out there were about one third fewer fatal shootings in 2013 than in 2011.
The idea that more people carrying more guns equals a safer society is unproven and has been called "naive," but there seems to be absolutely no doubt the public doesn't want gun control in general.
Michigan is one of 30 states that allows gun owners to openly carry their firearm in public without a permit. The practice is called Open Carry (OC).
Open-carry is not allowed in Michigan hospitals, day-care centers, banks, theaters, sports arenas, churches, courts and establishments that sell liquor.
And, some cities like Kalamazoo have adopted local ordinances banning guns in public buildings. "An armed society is a polite society," said an open carry advocate commenting on a man seen "packing" in a library where children were present.
On the issue of county gun boards, the elimination of which is the subject of a package of bills put forward by State Senator Mike Green, R-Mayville, the ball is headed to the court of Gov. Rick Snyder.
Snyder last month vetoed the part of Green's bill that would have allowed persons to have gun permits even if they had mental health problems. The bill as re-introduced would:
*Abolish county concealed weapon licensing boards.
*Transfer the bulk of the duties of the county boards to county clerks with some duties going to the courts, sheriffs, or MSP [Michigan State Police].
*Require the MSP to conduct investigations of CPL (concealed pistol license) applicants as to eligibility.
*Revise the CPL process, including requiring an applicant to have a valid state issued driver license or personal ID card.
*Give civil immunity to clerks and law enforcement entities if a CPL holder later commits a crime or negligent act.
*Add criminal penalties for certain violations of the act and require, instead of allow, certain civil infractions to be imposed for violations.
*Allow an applicant for a CPL renewal to certify that he or she has completed educational and firing range requirements (and the county clerk could not otherwise require verification of the statements in the certification).
*Decrease license and renewal fees.
*Revise the process to obtain an emergency CPL (formerly "temporary" license).
*Require each county to establish a concealed pistol licensing fund.
*Allow county clerks to take fingerprints of applicants.
According to Michigan Concealed Carry the need to abolish gun boards was pretty well dissipated in 2000 when the Legislature significantly amended Michigan's firearms laws to make Michigan what is known as a "shall issue" state. Previously, county gun boards were given considerable discretion to issue concealed pistol permits and the decision often depended on a showing of need by the applicant, which varied from county to county. Public Act 381, which went into effect on July 1, 2001 changed that so that anyone who met the strict qualifications of the law would receive a concealed pistol permit.
A black gun owner in Detroit asserts in a pro-gun blog that the county gun boards were established in 1927 to keep guns out of the hands of black citizens.
"Under that discretionary system, we had a predictable result: People who lived in the suburbs could get guns and carry them, but people who lived in urban areas like Wayne County and specifically in the city of Detroit, we could not," wrote Rick Ector of Legally Armed in Detroit.
The gun boards were strongly lobbied for by the Ku Klux Klan, an active group at the time that sought to take its message of white supremacy mainstream.
So it seems Michigan's gun boards were the creation of the Klan and the white middle class fearful of weapons in the hands of blacks, akin to the attitudes in the South during slavery and the Jim Crow era that followed.
The incidents that sparked the white gun movement was the trial of Dr. Ossian Sweet, a Detroit physician, and 10 of his friends following a shooting of a pair of whites, and death of one of them, during an anti-black neighborhood demonstration at 2905 Garland Ave., Detroit, in 1925.
Famed Chicago attorney Clarence Darrow defended Sweet's brother and gained an acquittal for him despite the fact he shot and killed a man.
A notable book about the Sweet case, "Arc of Justice," by Ohio State history professor Kevin Boyle, remains high on the bestseller lists on amazon.com.
Sen. Green and cohorts think that gun boards are a political device in which law enforcement exercises de facto gun control based on subjective judgments about individuals. They seek virtually unlimited rights to gun licenses and carrying no matter the situation. Those concepts are called "shall issue" and "open carry."
Green's new bill SB 789 passed the Senate 29-8 and is being considered in the House.
Ironically, the white supremacist gun boards installed in the era of Klan power may be disbanded by white, and black, gun owners like Green and Ector who are by all accounts representing responsible gun owners backed by the overwhelming support of the public.
The governor no doubt has his veto pen poised like the Sword of Damocles. Whether or not he uses that pen is as complicated a political consideration as the arguments for and against "shall issue" and "open carry."
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