1 day wait period on MI purchase permits?

Status
Not open for further replies.
E

Exmasonite

Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2006
Messages
561
hey all. posting from the state of Michigan here. For those that don't know, MI requires a purchase permit to buy a handgun. You go down to town/county PD, take a very simple True/false test (Example: When not in use, it's best to keep your firearm in your 6 yr old's lunchbox. True/false? ok, maybe not that bad)

Anyways, you get the purchase permit and have 10 days to buy the firearm. If you have your Conc. Pistol License, you are exempt from this requirement. I have my CPL so I haven't had to do this in a few years.

My friend went to the local PD to get his purchase permit yesterday, took the quiz, and was told that it would take 24 hours to do a background check and that he should call tomorrow to find out if/when he could pick up his purchase permit.

Has anybody in michigan ever heard of this? Is this new or is his municipality trying to impede RKBA? I am going to peek around the State attorney general and police sites.

I'm not necessarily against background checks but just wondering if this is new state law or just locals playing God. I figure he's going to get a pretty good background check when he goes to buy the gun and the FFL does the NICS check.

Thanks again everybody.
 
Where in Michigan does your friend live? I am in Shelby Township, and any time I went for a purchase permit, it only took about 10-15 minutes. I think someone's blowing smoke up your buddy's chimney.
A CPL eliminates that baloney.
 
he's in okemos.

yeah, it sounded pretty bush league to me. i've been telling him to get his CPL. hopefully this lesson will show him the light.


now if only the CPL exempted you from that stupid safety inspection required on all handguns...
 
Background Check

I'm not necessarily against background checks but just wondering if this is new state law or just locals playing God. I figure he's going to get a pretty good background check when he goes to buy the gun and the FFL does the NICS check.
Click to expand...
Infringed.

If your friend would just join the dark side he wouldn't need a background check.

Only the good guys need those. To make sure they're not evil, you know.
 
No requirement to wait, and should not have to wait. However, in reality, there are times when they are legitimately over whelmed with other matters. That happened to me once (before I had my MCPL) and the chief very politely requested more time. I offered to stop back the next day, and he responded,

No, we just need about 2 hours...we have this report that's due and the person who does the permits, does the report.
Click to expand...

About 90 minutes later I had my 3 permits. :D

I would ask why the delay. That way you can make an informed decision of if you should consult with your state Rep or the AG.

Doc2005
 
This is standard practice at this PD. he was handed a pre-printed piece of paper saying, "Call in 24 hrs for status of background check. If you are not a US citizen, this may take up to 4 days."
 
Any "system" can be abused and it sounds like this is one of those cases.

Sounds a lot like the system we had in Missouri (for over 70 years) until August 28, 2007(the effective date for legislative changes in MO). Ours was called a Permit To Acquire (PTA) and it meant up to a seven (7) business day delay from the time of application for a "permission slip" from our County Sheriff's to buy a "concealable firearm" which, in our state is anything with a barrel length less than 16 inches.

Talk about abuse. Well, we finally got rid of it here by a vote of 29-3 in the MO Senate and 151-6 in the MO House. Hopefully, something similar might be accomplished in MI if this is a common practice up there.
 
Local forms of government in Michigan have been known to make things up.That's why we became a "shall issue" state. In general you get better answers from the State Police, but as far as I know, you get your purchase permit while you wait. The background checks are more of a point of purchase thing.The safety check after purchase is really registration under a false name.
 
Get your CCW permit in Michigan and all you do is go purchase the firearm and then take it in with 10 days for the "Safety Inspection". No waiting period, no purchase permit needed with CCW.
 
It never took longer that 30-45 minutes total around here, but a friend just Saturday told me that his local PD took three days to issue the permit. Don't know what the law is in that regard, but that seems kind of long too me.
 
Quick Summary:Local departments may NOT charge for permits. They may charge up to the statutory limit of $10 to notarize a permit but they may not require you to have it done by them. The permit itself must be issued at no charge.

Hours that permits are available. Permits must be issued during any hours a department conducts any other normal business.

There is no limit on the number of permits that a person can obtain at one time.

There is no local waiting permit allowed. A permit must be issued on your initial visit.

A local PD may not collect information beyond that required in statute.

Departments are allowed, in fact required to keep a file or database of all registered pistols and their owners.
[url]http://www.firearmsalliance.org/AGLetter7-17-06.pdf
Print out a copy of the AG's opinion, then present it to the chief and city manager/mayor, then hold their feet to the fire until they follow the law. Remember ignorance of the law is no excuse to violate it.
 
I actually called about this today and the man i spoke to was very polite, and informed me that after a quick background check that i would get my purchase permit which was good for ten days. He even told me that it would probably be easier to just go to a bank to get it notarized, or at least that it would save me ten dollars. However, after reading the post above mine by fisherman, i had a question.
Hours that permits are available. Permits must be issued during any hours a department conducts any other normal business.
Click to expand...
Is that state law? because the department in Warren has very odd hours. As a matter of fact, they happen to perfectly coincide with the hours that i am generally at work (tuesday-saturday 6:00 a.m. -2:30 p.m. (though frequently later). The hours at the warren PD are 2:00-4:00p.m. tuesday and Wednesday, and 12:00p.m.-2:00p.m. thursday and friday (I believe). Is there any way i could get a permit during "normal business hours" or do i have to abide by the times given?
 
If Barb is made aware of this post, she can answer all your questions accurately. Be nice to her, because today is her Birthday.
 
MikePGS said:
Is that state law? because the department in Warren has very odd hours. As a matter of fact, they happen to perfectly coincide with the hours that i am generally at work
Click to expand...

It is state law; however, I've yet to find anyone who can make the police actually abide by the laws they enforce. The city of Wyoming does something similar; but the Attorney General won't lift a finger on the matter. The Chief there even wrote me an email stating that he'll run his department the way he wants and there's nothing the legislators can do about it.
 
It is state law; however, I've yet to find anyone who can make the police actually abide by the laws they enforce. The city of Wyoming does something similar; but the Attorney General won't lift a finger on the matter. The Chief there even wrote me an email stating that he'll run his department the way he wants and there's nothing the legislators can do about it.
Click to expand...
Drat. Perhaps when it comes time to get a permit if i'm not able to work around the hours a polite call to the department will help me get what I want.
 
Since when you need to take a test? Before i got my CCW, back in 2002 (i think) i never took a quiz or got my premit to purchase notozied.

Is this something new?

I seem to remmber them (saginaw county sheriff) asking for money for a premit from someone else, when i was there last time. Under 10 if i remmeber correctly.

Brion
 
Brion, a lot of departments are still charging for a permit and registration but by law they cannot and until someone forces the issue they are being taxed illegally. I went thru this not long ago, finally took it to city council to force the chief of police to stop the illegal practice. Somehow nobody can relate to the fact that they shouldn't be taxed for a right to keep and bear a firearm any more than they pay a poll tax to vote.
BTW: Did you get the flinter working okay?
 
Flyboy-

There is a very simple 5-10 question "idiot identifier" test that you take before you get your purchase permit (if you don't have you CCW). I haven't had to get a purchase permit in 3 years but that's what my friends said he did the other day.

BTW, he got the permit yesterday with no problem and i'm checking to see if he had any notarization fees, etc.

edit: it was meridian township PD. also had a $5 notarization fee
 
Last edited:
Notarization fees are legal - the permit has to be notarized by someone on the back (it doesn't have to be the issuing police department, however). "Waiting periods" vary - My local PD has taken anywhere from having it ready for me when I walked in for my initial visit (the joys of calling ahead) to taking an entire day to do the background check because the Lt who does them was at a conference. The Okemos PD is pretty small, they may just do the 24hr thing as a precaution even though they get them done a lot faster than that.
 
But why do the PDs have to do a background check? Doesn't the FFL have to do the NICS check which i would imagine is far more stringent?
 
Mike, I have friends who live in Warren, and it seems that they do things thier own way there. I agree, it almost seems like it's deliberate. Our Chief of Police in Shelby is a former Warrenofficer, and until him, we didn't even have bulletproof glass in the records dept. Now, when you bring your gun back to the PD, it has to have a cable lock, and be passed through one of those little door things in the Lexan window.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

C
  • Locked
Can an OH resident buy handgun at MI show?
Replies
3
Views
651
Partisan Ranger
P
B
  • Locked
What happens to Pistols after-death? MI
2
Replies
25
Views
6K
DammitBoy
D
G
  • Locked
Selling - from one CPL holder to another?
Replies
4
Views
5K
Unistat
U
G
  • Locked
Michigan, purchase permits, and paying for them. I'm steamed.
Replies
7
Views
894
Barbara
B
B
  • Locked
NICS check while waiting for permit to purchase?
Replies
10
Views
779
unclenunzie
unclenunzie
Back
Top