Delay in gun permits keeping hunters at home

Delay in gun permits keeping hunters at home.

Erik Arvidson
12/17/2003
The Berkshire Eagle

BOSTON -- Numerous sportsmen in Berkshire County have been unable to hunt deer or shoot recreationally this season because of a backlog of gun license renewals, according to state Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox.

Pignatelli said he has asked House leaders to approve a bill that would allow holders of firearms identification cards a 90-day "grace period" while state police agencies responsible for processing the licenses catch up.

"I chuckle when I hear about the deer kills being down this year, because there are fewer people hunting," Pignatelli said. "It's a real concern from sportsmen in my district. They are waiting three to six months in some cases to get their licenses renewed, and that would not be tolerated with any other kind of license renewal."

Pignatelli said he recently spoke with House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, D-Boston, about the matter, and was told that the House may take up his bill early next year.

"[Finneran] said he's willing to talk about it further, which is very positive, but it doesn't do much for the people who want to hunt," Pignatelli said.

Pignatelli said the grace period for FID cards was originally passed in 1974, but eliminated by the Legislature in the Gun Control Act of 1998. His bill would reinstate it for those people who Pignatelli said are "law-abiding and have had licenses in the past."

About 77,000 Massachusetts residents have FID cards, which allow the holder to carry rifles, shotguns and pepper spray. Another 200,000 or so residents are licensed to own handguns and various other firearms.

Holders of expired FID cards caught carrying a weapon can be arrested or subject to a fine of up to $5,000.

The state police and Criminal History Systems Board, which conducts background checks of gun license applicants, anticipated that there would be a wave of applications this year because many sportsmen had their FID cards expire this year.

Extra staff

According to Lt. Marian McGovern, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Public Safety, the Criminal History Systems Board had four extra staff to accommodate the high volume of requests.

While public safety officials acknowledge that some FID applicants had to wait as long as two months for a renewal this summer, they insist that there is no backlog and that most applicants should be getting their cards processed in 30 days.

McGovern said card holders should file their application for renewal one to two months prior to the date their license expires.

"People are going out to hunt, and they are looking at their licenses and saying, 'Uh, oh.' If they wait until the last day, they have to know this might create a problem," McGovern said.

Hunters or sportsmen file their application for an FID card with their city or town police department, which is required to conduct a background check of the applicant. The state police are then required to verify that the sportsmen's fingerprints match the prints of those filed when they first applied for a license.

McGovern said the problem, which has since been fixed, was that the state police were using a new computer system to process all of the applications.

Pro-gun groups argued that the snafu over the processing of the applications shows that the state has become too restrictive in its gun control laws, and that firearms identification cards should be issued on a lifetime basis.

James Wallace, a spokesman for the Gun Owners Action League, said many hunters and sportsmen are frustrated because there is no way to track with state agencies how long it will take for their application to be approved.

"You can't call the state police and say, 'Where is my application?' " Wallace said. "This is putting a lot of people in jeopardy because if your license expires, you can't even own a gun in your house."

Wallace noted that the Legislature and Gov. Mitt Romney quadrupled the renewal fees for FID cards to $100, from $25.

Proponents of the 1998 Gun Control Act argue that the law dramatically improved the state's ability to keep guns out of the hands of convicted criminals through extensive background checks and the elimination of grace periods.