Gun owners applying for a concealed carry permit in Wayne County, Mich. — home to Detroit — may have to wait until at least 2022 due to a significant backlog of applications and slower processing, according to reports this week.
“I was a little surprised that I was getting calls again this past week and the week before, calls and emails from my constituents saying they still couldn’t get an appointment,” said Melissa Daub, a Wayne County Commissioner, Fox 2 reported. “That the wait time was 10 months long. I went online this morning and I tried to book an appointment and the earliest I can get an appointment is January 17, 2022.”
In March last year, the Wayne County clerk’s office started requiring appointments for individuals seeking to apply for a concealed carry permit, rather than delivering an application to a county employee.
Daub said she is putting the issue at the top of the government operations meeting Wednesday in an effort to help the clerk’s office process concealed carry licenses more quickly.
“Clerk Garrett has expressed concerns about her department being short-staffed. That has been a long-term issue, and lack of office space,” Daub said.
Shiloh Tyus contacted the government office last March and was directed to wait until July to drop off her application. The Wayne County gun owner followed the office’s directions, but still hasn’t received her carry license almost seventh months later.
According to the Wayne County website, the county clerk “shall issue a license or notice of statutory disqualification within 45 days after the date the applicant has classifiable fingerprints taken.”
“It’s been a really frustrating journey to have to wait, to go down there to just apply,” said Tyus.
According to Fox 2, $74,000 from the CARES Act was approved by the county commission to assist the clerk’s office in buying fingerprinting equipment and to hire staff for a call center.
“Because the commission had approved that extra funding for the clerk’s office to get that extra equipment, I was surprised that the wait time was still long and actually increased,” Daub said.
Daub said she didn’t want residents to think the clerk office wasn’t doing their job.
“They are working very hard with the limited resources they have and it’s been very stressful with the pandemic,” Daub said. “I think all the commissioners just want to come together and work together so residents of Wayne County can get the services they deserve in a timely matter.”
