Sunday, November 29, 2015

Michigan's County Gun Boards Go Bye-Bye

A holdover from the rather racist past of Michigan's gun control laws, the County Gun Boards are finally on their way out.

The Detroit News: County gun boards abolished in Mich. starting Tuesday

The Gun Boards were originally composed of the county prosecutor, a state police representative and a sheriff's office representative and you needed two out of three "yes" votes to get a permit. For some time prior to Shall issue, the Michigan State Police had a policy of an automatic "no" vote on applications.

The board's original purpose was, to put it mildly, to ensure that none but the "right sort of people" get a carry permit. The right sort of course always included the connected and those who made the appropriate contribution to the appropriate politician's coffers to buy the required yes votes. An ordinary decent citizen in most counties had little to no chance of getting a carry permit.

Since shall-issue passed, the gun boards have had very little raison d'etre.

Some accepted this with good grace, some with mild go-slow obstructionism, and others decided to be petulant and require every single applicant to spend time before them during a working day even when the board had no valid reason to question, much less deny, their permit application.

That this anachronism is finally being done away with is a very good thing.