Posted on 04/16/2014 5:18:08 AM PDT by pabianice
Run on gun licenses: Police need help as gun applications pile up
Police seek help with applications
By Dustin Luca dluca@andovertownsman.com
Andover residents are going gun-crazy.
That’s the word from the Police Department, which this week won approval from the Board of Selectmen to create a full-time position to handle the rise in gun permit applications.
“In 2009, we processed 82 firearm licenses,” police Commander Charles Heseltine said. “That includes renewals and requests for new ones. In 2013, we had 456.”
The town now has about 1,600 residents who are officially licensed to carry guns, Heseltine said.
The rising interest is not just a local trend. In fact, while gun permit ownership increased about 9 percent last year in Andover, it went up by 29 percent in Everett and 17 percent in Winthrop, according to figures from the Mass. Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.
The statewide rise in gun ownership mirrors a nationwide trend of people getting permits out of fear that firearms laws are about to change.
“What we get is many people saying they’re coming in from the recent gun regulations,” Heseltine said. “There has been a huge uptick in that, and people are worried the laws will change and they’ll be unable to purchase firearms.”
Police chiefs have more power than ever in assessing prospective gun owners.
One question that often comes up when police departments sit down with permit applicants is why they’re getting a license.
“They would say they want it for home safety — primarily they won’t keep the weapon on the person, but they want it for their home,” Heseltine said.
More women are seeking applications than in the past as well.
Terrel Harris, spokesman for the state’s Office of Public Safety and Security, says the recent surge being felt in Massachusetts has been caused by a bubble of expiring licenses that pops up every six years since licenses are no longer issued for life.
“There is no backlog at the state level,” Harris said. “And we don’t expect to see the type of spike we saw last summer again for another six years. That’s when all the licenses will be up for renewal again.”
The demand has put pressure on the Andover Police Department since there is a lot of work that goes on before a license is issued.
The process starts with a background check. Once the applicant passes that review, the department then gets the person’s fingerprints, takes photographs and more, according to Heseltine.
The background work is done by Andover detectives, while the paperwork has been managed by a part-time employee.
Processing an application “takes roughly 30 days on our part of it,” Heseltine said. “Start to finish could take a couple months.”
That’s because an application, once given a green light locally, is then sent to the state’s Firearms Records Bureau for final review. If that agency signs off, it prints and sends the license back to the local department to present to the applicant.
The result is a lot of paperwork that has become backlogged, hence the need for a full-time clerk to handle gun permit applications, local police say.
“For us, the demand is there,” Heseltine said.
Because of the demand, getting to yes has taken too long lately. With around 60 to 65 applications recently “in the pipeline to be processed,” Heseltine said more help is needed.
“We’re overwhelmed with it,” he said.
LICENSE REQUESTS, BY THE NUMBERS
YEAR APPLICATIONS
2009 82
2010 124
2011 223
2012 364
2013 456
Note: Figures include applications rejected as part of background check process.
- See more at: http://www.andovertownsman.com/local/x1445033969/Run-on-gun-licenses-Police-need-help-as-gun-applications-pile-up?zc_p=1#sthash.u0Vpl4Wk.dpuf - See more at: http://www.andovertownsman.com/local/x1445033969/Run-on-gun-licenses-Police-need-help-as-gun-applications-pile-up#sthash.Wh2qD208.dpuf
Yeah, they make it sound like it’s a BAD thing...
Gun grabbers complaining about having to process registrations?
Does anyone know when the statues of the Minutemen are to be broken up and discarded?
It must be in the works because those statues show “gun clingers” standing proudly with their personal “ASSAULT WEAPONS” of the day. Assault weapons used to stand up to the authorities and fire “The shot heard around the world”.
And to think that this state actually celebrates the action of those men.
the union should be happy. they can hire licensed officers and pat OT to do what civilian p/t admins can do.
Guess the Constitution does not apply in MA any longer, it is time to MOVE to some place it does.
The local criminal class are the ones who should be wetting their pants.
” - - - Run-on-gun-licenses-Police-need-help-as-gun-applications-pile-up - - - “
This website says it all:
THE OBAMANATION TRANSFORMATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS WORKING!
It is a bad thing. Why, in the name of all that's holy, do free people need a "license" to exercise their God-given right to keep and bear arms? What kind of totalitarian regime is this?
Oh, yeah ... it's mASSachussetts ..
Boston liberals are wetting their pants.
*********
I bet they are. Here in Dixie we are watching events in Connecticut, New York and now this with much approval and growing respect.
It will be interesting to see what effect the events in Bunkerville Nevada have on gun sales. I had assumed pretty much everyone who was going to arm already was.
That's only partly true. The real reason is that people fear that the chances of NEEDING a gun are rising rapidly.
That's just about as far as I need to read. Communist hellhole. I would not set foot in the state.
Any licensing or registration requirement whatsoever is an infringement upon your second amendment rights.
And going for it again in 2014.
The funny side of this is that all that effort put into permitting is absolute waste. All that money thrown down a rat hole. All that police time frittered away. Millions and millions of dollars.
It accomplishes nothing positive in any way.
Any excuse they give for it is instantly thwarted by pointing to Arizona. No licenses, no limits, and nothing bad happens because of it. Nobody in their right mind thinks that any government in Arizona (excepting federal) would be stupid and paranoid and tyrannical enough to try and confiscate guns.
Are they doing it because the people of Massachusetts are feeble minded? “I’m from Mass’chu and D’uh!” Why shouldn’t the rest of the country think so?
Are the people of Massachusetts so irresponsible that they cannot be trusted to drive cars, use kitchen knives, or tie their own shoe laces without strangling somebody?
I am guessing that with the Bundy situation, we will see a lot more purchases across America. This has been proof for many why they need more.
What’s a gun permit? Never seen one my entire life.
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