Applications for gun carry permits set record in 2015

The Muscogee County Probate Court has processed 2,860 weapons carry license applications this year, more than any previous year, according to court records.

In fact, the number of weapon carry license applications in Muscogee County has grown steadily over the past 10 years, with the two largest spikes coinciding with President Barack Obama's election and re-election.

Ten years ago, applications were running around 800-850 a year, that crept up to 1,076 in 2007 then almost doubled to 1,999 in 2008. The numbers dropped back down and stayed between 1,600 and 1,900 until 2013 -- the year Obama took office for his second term -- when it spiked up to 2,703. It dipped back to 2,685 last year, but rose again to 2,860, an all-time record, this year.

To get a weapons carry license in Georgia, you must be a U.S. citizen or eligible lawful alien, resident of Muscogee County or active-duty military living in the county or on post and be 21 years old, or over 18 with proof of basic training completion or honorable discharge. The license fee is $78, or $77.50 if you provide a self-addressed stamped envelope, since the permits are mailed to your home address.

The process involves filling out a three-page form that includes 17 questions and your signature swearing that you've been truthful in answering them. After that, you're sent two floors down to the sheriff's office where you are electronically fingerprinted. Those prints are sent to the GBI and FBI, which run the necessary background check to see if you qualify. If all goes well, you could have your license in the mail in about a month. But the process has been running a little slower lately, not only because the mail runs slower during the holidays, but because of the increased volume of applications here and around the state, Probate Judge Marc D'Antonio said. Statewide numbers are hard to come by because Georgia prohibits there being any kind of collective databases related to gun permits, D'Antonio said.

Some 2012 numbers are available in a 2012 General Accounting Office report to Congress, which said Georgia had about 600,000 active carry permits then. That same year, Alabama had about 480,000, according to the Alabama Sheriff's Association.

In Alabama, issuing carry permits is a function of the county sheriff's office. Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor said the number of applications "has been growing pretty steadily for the last several years."

Emmanuel County Probate Court Judge Don Wilkes is president of the Georgia Council of Probate Court Judges. The judges he hears from around the state all report significant increases in weapons carry license applications.

"The ones I hear from are saying there's a large increase in the number of weapons carry licenses being issued," Wilkes said. "And I think it's fair to say to say the same is true across the state. I haven't heard from anyone saying they're issuing fewer."

Another thing Wilkes hears from the other judges is the impact the increase is having on their offices.

"The impact on the probate courts is just as huge as the numbers, from the standpoint of time and numbers to actually accommodate that," Wilkes said. "Nobody has hired to handle the increase in numbers. But everybody is taking care of it. They're just getting busy and taking care of it."

Practically all applications are approved, D'Antonio said, because few people who would not qualify bother applying. Previous felony convictions and misdemeanor convictions related to family violence are common disqualifiers, D'Antonio said. And previous drug convictions used to be an automatic disqualifier, D'Antonio said, but that has been relaxed.

"Now misdemeanor drug offenses, as long as you haven't had a second one in a five-year period, no longer is a bar to obtaining one," he said.

D'Antonio recalled a man who applied before the law change and was denied a permit. He was arrested when he was 18 years old for smoking marijuana with members of a band that was playing at the old Waverly Hotel. He was "north of 65" when he applied for the permit, but his arrest decades earlier prevented him from getting it.

"I thought it was silly, but I follow the law, so I had to deny his carry permit then," D'Antonio said. "That bothered me because you could have two or three DUIs, as long as they didn't rise to a habitual violator status, you could still be eligible to obtain your carry permit."

D'Antonio himself does not have a permit, nor does he need one.

"I do not," he said. "As a judge, I'm allowed to carry without a permit."

Many others also are exempt, including certified peace officers, of course, active-duty military, wardens, district attorneys and many of their employees, state court solicitors general and many of their employees, designated employees of the state Board of Pardons and Parole, designated employees of the state Attorney General's office, probation officers, municipal public safety directors, explosive ordinance disposal technicians, state and federal trial and appellate judges, United States Attorneys and assistant attorneys, county medical examiners and coroners, superior court clerks and magistrate court constables. Renewals are every five years. If you apply within 90 days before or 30 days after its expiration, it's only 35 dollars. Based on a legislative change, fingerprint background checks are not repeated. They only run a name change background check. If an owner loses his carry permit, he or she can get a replacement permit at the probate court for $7.

"But we're going to run a new background check on you," D'Antonio said. "People don't realize how fast their arrests show up in the database. We have a couple of those every year when someone gets arrested and maybe their carry permit was taken by the law enforcement officer and they run down here the next day thinking that it might not show.

"They're denied."

This story was originally published December 24, 2015 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Applications for gun carry permits set record in 2015."