Increased popularity
Permit holders are, on average, more law abiding that non holders and police. But since permits are becoming popular, there’s been a three fold increase in Michigan in violations committed by permit holders. This takes them from some small number that doesn’t mean much to a slightly larger small number that doesn’t mean much. And there’s also some change in reporting requirements.
February 15th, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Look-ee there… being the first to comment… I just increased the number of comments on this post by 100 percent… the Brady Bunch will have a field day (or a candle-light vigil) with this statistic…
Dann in Ohio
February 16th, 2012 at 12:39 am
The real numbers were probably always the same. I knew what caused the change even before I clicked the link.
They ran a series of articles about a year ago highlighting problems with the CCW laws in Michigan. Like, actual problems, not imaginary ones. Failure to report crimes as required under our CCW law, gun boards giving out permits when they shouldn’t, etc. One example was a guy that got a DUI which puts you out of the running for a permit for 3 years, but the county gun board, apparently, didn’t realize that when he went to renew. They gave the guy his permit back because he was a security guard. Totally illegal.
The take home lesson, for those that know what’s going on, was that we need to ditch county gun boards and just let the Secretary of State handle them like we do driver’s licenses. They’re better equipped to handle the data, the applicants, and the printing of licenses.
My actual license is a piece of construction paper shoved into a printer, with a picture I provided on top, laminated in a cheap machine with a seal on it. A 16 year old could duplicate the thing. It looks like a joke.
February 16th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
You should see ours. Pink paper out of a laser printer, no picture, have to laminate it yourself. Looks like it was designed by a 16 year old. It’s common practice to make copies just to have a backup in case it’s lost, rather than pay $20.