BAY COUNTY, MI — A state senator has introduced legislation to streamline the process for Michigan residents to obtain concealed pistol licenses, and for authorities to become more efficient in issuing them.

Sen. Mike Green, R-Mayville, on Tuesday, Feb. 18, introduced Senate Bill 789. If passed, the bill will eliminate county concealed weapons licensing boards, decrease the renewal fee from $105 to $90 and shift the responsibility for applicants’ background checks from county sheriff’s offices to the Michigan State Police.

"Michigan residents currently pay one of the highest CPL fees in the nation, yet they must deal with inconsistent requirements from county to county and experience some of the longest delays in receiving a license," Green said. "We are the only state in the nation that still uses gun boards to issue CPLs. It is obsolete and needs to change. In an era of modern technology and record-keeping, we can do better and folks deserve better for their hard-earned dollars."

Sen. Mike Green, R-Mayville

Green said his motivation for crafting the bill was to create more uniformity across the state. He added that the bill hails in part from Senate Bill 59, vetoed by Gov. Rick Snyder in December 2012, which sought to simplify the CPL process and allow people with extra training to bring concealed weapons into gun-free zones.

“When the governor vetoed Bill 59, he made the statement that he was not against making a change to the process to make it more uniform and fair,” Green said. “Because of that, we’ve been working with the governor’s office to make it a little more credible and more the same in 83 counties.”

There are nine states whose CPL fees are more expensive than Michigan's — Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, according to www.USAcarry.com.

The licensing boards were created in 1927 and under Green’s bill, their authority would be delegated to county clerks who already accept applications and issue licenses.

To acquire a CPL in Michigan, a person must be age 21 or older, have resided in Michigan for at least six months and have completed a pistol safety training course. An applicant must also not have a felony conviction or currently face a felony charge, not be subject to a personal protection order, have not been dishonorably discharged from the military, and not be under court order of legal incapacity or have a diagnosed mental illness.

Those applying for a CPL in Bay County must obtain an application kit from the sheriff’s office or the clerk’s office and submit the completed form to the clerk’s office with the $105 fee. Applicants must also have their fingerprints taken at the sheriff’s office.

If the bill is passed, the application process will remain the same on applicants’ end.

Bay County Clerk Cynthia Luczak

“They’d pick up their packet at the clerk’s office, fill it out and get all the documents, then return that to the clerk’s office,” Green said. “Once the clerk gets it, she sends the fingerprints to the state police and the state police starts the background and then orders the clerk to issue the permit.”

The Bay County Gun Board consists of Clerk Cynthia Luczak and one representative each from the sheriff’s office, prosecutor’s office and the state police, though Luczak is not a voting member. The board currently meets at 10 a.m. one Thursday per month in the Bay County Building.

“We in Bay County do a very good job at processing our permits timely, even though we only meet once a month,” Luczak said. “Other counties meet once a week. I think the force driving the change is the bigger counties who are so backlogged.

“Time is important to people,” she continued. “Some agencies, it takes them a long time. Down in the Detroit area, their sheriffs are so far behind, people don’t get theirs renewed before they’ve expired.”

Green agreed that some of the biggest problems in issuing CPLs are in bigger counties.

“Those bigger counties still meet once a month with the prosecutor, the state police and the sheriff and still talk about these CPLs,” Green said. “They spend a whole day down there where really there’s nothing to talk about. The law says you either qualify or you don’t. There’s no need for a gun board to say, ‘OK, you do qualify.’ By doing this, we’re eliminating a step in the process.”

Green's bill has been endorsed by the Michigan Association of County Clerks and Luczak said she is in favor of it.

“I feel this will be a step in the right direction, eliminating our local gun boards,” she said. “They continue to improve the process all the time, and I think they need to with the demand we see. People are for a variety of reasons … exercising their constitutional right to bear arms.”

As of Feb. 5, Bay County has 4,904 active permits with 68 pending, according to state police figures. As of that same date, the state of Michigan has 427,846 active permits.

Currently, sheriff’s offices conduct background checks on those who apply for a CPL, though they only receive $15 of the $105 license fee. The state police receive $64 and clerks receive $26.

Green is proposing state police take over the background checks without additional funding, though the sheriff’s offices can keep the $15 for fingerprinting. Since fingerprints are stored electronically and are not required for the majority of renewal applications, the renewal fee would decrease to $90.

“My bill will free up local law enforcement resources from bureaucratic tasks to focus on public safety in our local communities,” Green said. “More importantly, it will create a true 'shall issue' CPL system for law-abiding citizens while keeping licenses out of the hands of bad guys.”

Bay County Undersheriff Troy Cunningham concurred with Green on the bill’s ability to make deputies more proactive on the road.

“I don’t think we’re opposed to it in anyway,” he said. “It would free up some of our guys for more patrols. Some of our guys get tied up doing background investigations. That would be a couple more cars out there doing patrol time.”

Lt. Brian Cole, with the Michigan State Police’s Third District Headquarters in Flint, said he was unfamiliar with the bill and could not comment on how its passing would affect his agency.

Glenn Duncan, owner of Duncan’s Outdoor Shop, 501 Salzburg Ave. in Bay City, said he’s also in favor of the bill.

“If the state police does it, it’s one program,” Duncan said. “With the three counties — Bay, Saginaw and Midland — they interpret the law three different ways. This way, everything is going to be standardized. It gets it out of (county officials') hands and lets the state do its job.”

Luczak added that her office averages about 100 CPL applicants per month and had 1,600 in 2013. In an effort to expedite issuing, the gun board in 2013 ceased having every applicant come to their monthly meetings and mailed them their licenses instead.

“We are seeing a bigger number of applications day by day,” she said. “I see a real advantage of us getting them out quicker. We’ll be able to issue once the state police confirms we can do so. They’ll work closely with us and eliminate another step in the process.”

“I think it’s a little more responsibility for us, but it’s nothing we can’t handle,” Luczak continued. “We’d be responsible for reporting information to the state police, and they’d correspond back to us if they need more information on an applicant. The state police will expect more assistance out of us because (the prosecutor and sheriff’s offices) will not be involved.”

The bill is also supported by the National Rifle Association and the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners. It has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration.