Posted on 06/27/2003 9:46:27 AM PDT by jdege
BY AMY BECKER and LISA DONOVAN
Pioneer Press
Some 217 Washington County residents are getting an extra message with their new permit to carry a handgun in public.
Beneath the stamped name of Sheriff James J. Frank are the words "sub recuso," Latin for "under protest."
It sums up his attitude toward the new state-mandated permit process, a job overseen by each of the state's 87 sheriffs. By law they must give gun permits to any law-abiding citizen who wants one.
"I've got to do it but I don't think it's the right thing to do," Frank said. "I just hope those guns, now that people are taking advantage of this, don't end up being their demise instead of their protection."
Frank says the 283 applications he has received since May 28, the day the new law was enacted, are fewer than he expected. Despite his protest, Washington County has, to date, approved a higher percentage of applications than Ramsey, Dakota and Hennepin counties.
As the 30-day deadline looms for sheriffs to issue the first permits, those in the metro area are seeing the expected spike in applications but find it difficult to characterize the long-term pace. In Ramsey, Hennepin, Dakota and Washington counties, roughly 2,100 people have applied, and nearly half of those have been or will be granted permits this week.
In Ramsey County, 523 applications have flooded the sheriff's office. On Thursday, sheriff's officials mailed out 149 permits. A day earlier, the county sent out four denial notices - two because of criminal convictions and the other two because of a concern they posed a substantial risk to themselves or others, said Sheriff Bob Fletcher.
The ultimate increase in permits might be difficult to gauge, he said.
"It's too early to tell, because we know there's a backlog of people trying to get into the classes," Fletcher said of the gun-training instruction required to apply for a permit. "At this rate, there would be 6,000 permits for the year."
That's a large jump from 2002, when roughly 250 permits were issued by various law enforcement agencies across Ramsey County.
In Washington County, 283 applications have come in; Frank has issued 217 permits and denied six people - one for mental health reasons, one as a danger to self or others, and four for their criminal history.
"They're predominantly middle-aged white males who are asking for them," Frank said.
The roughly 10 applications a day have meant rearranging staffing duties. It's a stark contrast over the previous two years, when Washington County averaged six applications a month.
In Dakota County, about 384 people had applied for a permit as of June 24. Today, the sheriff's office hopes to issue the first 86. A few might be denied because of inadequate training, but Dakota County Sheriff's Cmdr. Greg Peterson said he assumes those applicants will get that issue corrected.
The Hennepin County Sheriff's Department has received a little more than 1,000 applications since May 1, and officials have granted about half. The majority of those permits were in the mail this week, said sheriff's spokeswoman Roseann Campagnoli. In all, 11 were denied, generally because of criminal offenses.
In all of Hennepin County, 600 permits were issued last year.
In places like Ramsey and Hennepin counties, the sheriffs are pushing their deadline.
"We could probably issue these in three weeks, but our intent was to use the whole 30 days so that public and private entities, business owners could establish policy on their own property" and decide whether it's appropriate, even legal, for someone to carry a handgun onto their premises, Fletcher said.
"That may change now that we've been doing this for a while," he said.
Last year, authorities received 13,705 applications and granted 12,776, according to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Current statewide statistics were not immediately available, but legislative analysts expected the current number of some 13,000 permits to increase by eightfold over the next few years.
Under the old, more restrictive law, permit applicants had to show an occupational need or personal safety hazard, giving police chiefs and sheriffs broad discretion in granting permits. Authorities in metro counties generally approved few permit applications, while those in outstate counties granted more.
In Otter Tail County, permit applications have plummeted, surprisingly, considering the west-central Minnesota county is among those that have given out the most permits in the state.
Since May 28, authorities had just 10 applications, a county official said this week. From May 28 to June 28, the county sheriff received about 100 applications.
At the moment, no one in the area is offering the required gun-training courses. The courses, which could be $50 to $75 there, could be cost-prohibitive, one official said. Then there's the $75 fee for a permit.
"Under the old law, the sheriff didn't charge," said Chris Greene, a secretary who processes the gun permit applications in the sheriff's office. "(Residents) are saying now, 'Why should we have to pay for something (that's) our constitutional right?' I know some people who say they're not going to pay for it, they're not going to get (the permit). They'll carry it anyway."
She stressed that only a few people have said this and that it was more to vent frustration than to threaten to break the law.
Bruce Krafft, of Maplewood, showed up at the Ramsey County's Sheriff's Department on May 28, the day the law took effect, to apply for his permit. He should learn his fate as soon as today.
"I wouldn't say I'm excited, but I am looking forward to exercising my constitutional right" to bear arms, Krafft said when asked about the prospects of obtaining a permit.
In fact, he has been rehearsing for this day.
"I've got a holster, I've been wearing it around the house for the last month or so, making sure that it's comfortable, that it fits, that my gun doesn't fall out," Krafft said.
He owns several handguns but will likely sport a 9 mm semiautomatic called a Baby Eagle made by Magnum Research.
"Basically, I'll be wearing it everywhere I go, unless I'm going out with the intention to get drunk, at which point I'll arrange for a designated driver and I'll arrange to leave my gun somewhere else."
Staff writer Amy Sherman contributed to this report. Amy Becker can be reached at abecker@pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5465. Lisa Donovan can be reached at ldonovan@pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5591.
"We could probably issue these in three weeks, but our intent was to use the whole 30 days
Weren't they saying, before the bill passed, that 30 days wouldn't be long enough?
Oh no! The dreaded WHITE MIDDLE-AGED MALE!!!!
Well, Frankie, my boy...IT AIN'T UP TO YOU, now is it? UGH. Here we go...it's the OK Corral all over again. Blood is gunna run like a river in the streets.Cats & dogs will be fighting, etc.Funny, but that hasn't happened in the other 34 states with CCW.
BEHOLD, THE MIND OF THE DEFENSELESS!!
Beneath the stamped name of Sheriff James J. Frank are the words "sub recuso," Latin for "under protest."
What a great idea! I'll start signing all my tax returns that way!
Up until the C&C debate he seemed like a stand-up guy, and a vast improvement over the candidates the Democrats coughed up.
The Bias Against Guns: Why Almost Everything You've Heard About Gun Control Is Wrong
BITS
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