It’s been one month since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. One month since 20 children were killed along with 6 adults at the school. In the wake of the shooting, Massachusetts lawmakers are weighing tougher gun control measures, from requiring gun owners to buy liability insurance to setting tighter standards for firearms licenses.
WGBH reporter Anne Mostue went inside the process of licensing with two police officers in two very different cities: Lowell and Cambridge.
If you live in Lowell and want a gun license, there’s one place to go: A small glass office near the entrance to the police headquarters. Inside is Detective Karen Witts, who spends her time processing background checks, fingerprints and applications for guns and mace. For the past 6 months, her desk has been mostly covered by an ever-growing pile of Class A gun permit applications.
On this day, Detective Witts is looking at a file for a young man applying for a gun permit.
“So when you call I start the background right away,” she said.
She simply has to decide whether he’s “suitable” to own a gun, based on his driving records, criminal background check and any information she may have on his mental health.
“There’s nothing in his criminal background, he’s coming in this afternoon to meet me, he’s 21,” she said. “I’m seeing this a lot men who are getting out of the service looking for armed security jobs.”
For years, Witts has seen a steady increase in requests for firearms and mace permits, from people of all walks of life. In the last three years, she’s gone from approving 200 licenses to approving 521, mostly Class A. Class A means the license owner may purchase, possess and carry ammunition, handguns, rifles, shotguns and magazines. But there are restrictions, Witts said, depending on each individual.
“Some are very adamant about wanting to be able to carry 24/7,” Witts said. “However, each city and town is allowed to put restrictions on license to carry. Our chief here has set forth guidelines and if you meet them, he allows you to carry unrestricted.”
Who can carry concealed weapons in Lowell? Business owners who carry large sums of cash, a victim of a violent crime, with documentation, law enforcement officers. Otherwise, a Class A license lets you carry a weapon to and from a hunting area, shooting range, or gun club, and use it there. Still, despite strict regulations, Detective Witts says the Newtown, Conn. shooting makes her more nervous about the guns that are out there.
“That shooting involving children is every officers worst nightmare,” Witts said. “I’ll never understand the reason for owning weapons like that. As a police officer, I definitely don’t want to be outgunned out there.”
Massachusetts has long had the reputation of having some of the nation’s toughest gun laws, including a ban on some assault weapons. In order to obtain a permit, you must do three things: Take a safety course, fill out an application with your police department and undergo a criminal and mental health background check. The process takes up to six months. But that first screening from a police department is slightly different in each city and town.
“I don’t deny a lot of gun licenses,” Witt said. “Ones I deny are usually based on a criminal record. I think in your bigger cities and towns the chief feels that they don’t want their citizens carrying concealed weapons. But in a smaller town the chief might not mind people carrying concealed.”
Detective Witts sits down face-to-face with all applicants for gun permits. But in other towns, officers in her position may not.
In Cambridge, Deputy Jack Albert is sitting in a white, sterile office. Next to his neatly organized desk is a large fingerprinting scanner. Albert requires a written letter from applicants, along with written references.
“We have one gentleman who’s a Cambridge resident, grew up in Massachusetts, he’s 26 years old, never owned a firearm before but he has no criminal history,” Albert said. “In his letter, he states that he hunts and he target-shoots so that makes it a lot easier for me. When I sit down to approve his license, there’s nothing in his file that would make me think.”
Deputy Albert turns to the next applicant for a gun permit.
This applicant will not be able to carry a concealed weapon, but he could apply for one in 6 years, when his permit is up for renewal. Albert said he issued the same restriction to a young woman last month.
“Young woman, just moved to Cambridge, said she lives in fear,” he said. “It’s her second amendment right to own a gun. But I have to think of the best interest of the residents of Cambridge.”
Right now, there are slightly fewer than 900 people with Class A firearms licenses in Cambridge. That’s less than 1 percent of the population of 106,000 people. Unlike Lowell, Albert says he hasn’t seen an overall increase in gun applications in recent years -- with one caveat: Younger people are representing a larger share of the permit pool.
“I’m seeing a lot of younger people, male and female,” he said. “The majority are new residents of Cambridge, white, 21 to 25, students at MIT, Harvard, other schools.”
Albert says it’s important to keep in mind that gun permits and gun ownership are two separate issues. Just because someone has a permit doesn’t mean they have a gun. And sometimes people have guns but no permit. Permits last six years, and people often renew them just to have them on file, not because they’re active in a shooting or hunting club.
But in light of the Newtown massacre, one concern keeps coming up: mental health. In Massachusetts, mental health is part of the background check police use, but it has limitations. It’s a vague part of the background check, and doesn’t take into account therapy visits or medication.
“The only reason under the current statute that a chief can deny a gun application regarding a person’s mental health is if that person has been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility,” Albert said
So if a person is undergoing mental health counseling, or taking medication for a mental health condition, police wouldn’t know. But that could change.
State Rep. David Linsky, a Natick Democrat, plans to file a bill he calls a comprehensive bill to end gun violence.
“I’m going to file legislation that would allow police chiefs greater access to an applicant’s mental health records,” Linsky said. “It’s a voluntary act to apply for a gun, and you would sign a waiver to provide names and addresses of any mental health providers that you have.”
The only database that exists for police to use now is one that lists people involuntarily committed to a state clinic or hospitals, not private facilities. It’s unclear how Linsky’s bill will conflict with medical privacy laws. But police, who are both issuing gun permits and responding to gun violence, say they’ll take all the information they can get.
