LOWELL — Gun-rights advocates told Police Superintendent William Taylor and other city leaders Monday in a face-to-face meeting that the city should roll back its gun-policy requirements to match the state’s.

“You’re, in essence, rewriting state law through your own mandate,” said Randy Breton, one of nine residents who spoke. Gun-permit applicants shouldn’t have to demonstrate themselves worthy of a license, he added, but should be presumed safe unless proven otherwise.

Others said a requirement that all applicants must complete a safety course before being issued a license to carry wasn’t fair. Arthur Perkins said the rights of other residents, alluding to those worried about guns in the city, were not more important than those of gun-owners. Mike Peoples said residents need to protect themselves from violence in the community.

“You’re taking guns away from the good guys, that’s all you’re doing,” Peoples said.

City Manager Kevin Murphy, who acted as a type of mediator between the two sides, said he would consider the input from residents and meet with Taylor and members of the city’s Law Department to review the city’s policies and potentially make changes.

“I hear you loud and clear,” he said several times to the residents, who sat around a big table in the Mayor’s Reception Room in City Hall.

Taylor, who has the sole authority over the city’s gun regulations, updated the policy earlier this year for what he said was the first changes to the policy in at least 30 years.

As the guidelines are now written, applicants seeking unrestricted licenses will also be required to provide documentation showing they will not pose a threat to public safety, including prior military or law-enforcement service, a prior license-to-carry permit, or signed letters of recommendation.

Taylor said Monday he had considered resident input in making those changes, as well as Constitutional rights, state law, and regulations in other communities. The department generally didn’t allow any unrestricted licenses before the policy change, he said.

“We listened and heard everyone’s concerns,” Taylor said, calling the policy “a common sense approach.”

To an outspoken group of residents, however, the policy goes too far in making it difficult for even law-abiding residents to obtain an unrestricted license. Many of the same residents spoke out at City Council meetings in February and October. Taylor reviewed the city’s policy after the February meeting, and further complaints by residents in October spurred the council to vote to have Taylor and Murphy meet with the residents to find common ground.

Three residents sued Taylor in March, saying they were unfairly denied unrestricted firearm permits, each saying they were given approval only for “sporting” use, not unrestricted use.

On Monday, Carolyn Cardella said the new policy gives too much weight to fears of residents who tend to be closed-minded to guns. Another resident, Dan Gannon, summed up what became a consensus among the residents, that Lowell should simply adopt the state law, which has fewer requirements for applicants.

“It just feels like we’re reinventing the wheel,” he said.

Follow Grant Welker on Twitter and Tout @SunGrantWelker.