NE: No big demand for gun permits

[Guest Patriot Games]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10076532

 

Thursday July 12, 2007

No big demand for gun permits

 

LINCOLN - Halfway through the first year of Nebraska's new concealed handgun

law, just under 2,000 people have applied for the permits and 1,764 have

received them, according to the Nebraska State Patrol.

 

That's only about 20 percent of the 10,000 applications the State Patrol had

expected to receive by now.

 

When the Legislature debated the proposal in 2006, the State Patrol

estimated that about 20,000 people would seek concealed handgun permits in

the program's first year, if Nebraska followed the pattern of neighboring

states. For subsequent years, the patrol predicted about 5,000 applications

a year.

 

"Those numbers just haven't materialized," said Lt. John Shelton, commander

of the division responsible for processing the permit applications.

 

Shelton said he didn't know why there have been fewer applicants - 1,964 as

of Wednesday - than expected, but he offered a few possibilities.

 

Some people may have been discouraged by the training requirements, he said.

Applicants have to take a safety course that can take from eight to 16 hours

and cost $175.

 

Others may have been deterred because individual Nebraska cities and towns

have prohibited concealed weapons within their borders.

 

He also said it's possible that the limited number of training instructors

in some parts of the state may have discouraged some people from pursuing

the permit.

 

The State Patrol lists 40 approved concealed weapons instructors on its Web

site, more than half from the Omaha area.

 

But training instructors in Omaha and elsewhere said they haven't had to

turn away students.

 

Mark Bohaty, who runs a training program near Bruno, Neb., said he has

trained 500 people so far, but business has waned in recent weeks.

 

"It definitely has slowed," he said.

 

Bohaty said not everyone who has completed his training course has actually

applied for a permit. Some haven't had time to turn in applications, which

have to be submitted in person at one of six State Patrol locations.

 

And at least three or four told him they don't want permits, after all.

 

"Sometimes people change their mind," Bohaty said. "When it comes right down

to it, it's a very, very serious thing." He said some people have been

shaken by the potential legal consequences of shooting another person.

 

Police in Lincoln and Omaha have reported no incidents involving people with

concealed weapons permits.

 

However, Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady said he keeps a file of applicants

who concern him and his staff.

 

Some people have been turned down for the permits based on criminal history

information that Lincoln police gave the State Patrol.

 

Casady said others could not be prevented from getting a permit, including a

man who had been pardoned after serving prison time on multiple felony

convictions, and another man who had been convicted of impersonating a

police officer.

 

Even though the pardon wiped the first man's criminal record clean and there

was no legal reason to deny him the permit, Casady questioned whether the

Board of Pardons would have granted the pardon if members realized the man

would obtain a concealed handgun permit.

 

In the second case, impersonating an officer is not among the crimes that

would block someone from receiving the permit.

 

Casady said 308 concealed weapons permits had been issued in Lincoln.

 

"There is a small percentage of people obtaining these who make me cringe

and who would make most people cringe," he said. "But it's a very small

percentage."

 

Shelton said he did not have statistics immediately available on the number

of applicants who have been turned down.