Board rejects Gun permit request of firearms instructor denied due to old crime

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Gun permit denied due to old crime Board rejects request of firearms instructor November 27, 2001CEDAR SPRINGS -- An accomplished hunter and firearms instructor has been denied a permit to carry a concealed weapon because of his involvement in a fatal car accident 39 years ago. Although Phil Harrison pleaded no contest to a high-misdemeanor charge of negligent homicide in the accident, a concealed-weapons law that the Legislature passed last year prevented him from getting the permit. The law that went into effect in July was intended to make it easier to carry a gun. It requires gun boards to issue concealed-weapons permits to applicants who have no felony convictions, mental health problems or dishonorable discharges from the armed forces. For the purposes of the new law, lawmakers defined a felony as any crime punishable by more than a year of confinement. Negligent homicide is punishable by up to two years in prison, so that made Harrison ineligible, though he only received 45 days in jail. Meanwhile, the law listed 35 misdemeanor crimes as exceptions to the two-year rule. This means, for instance, that a person who accidentally killed someone with a gun can get a permit as long as the offense was at least eight years ago. "Careless, reckless and negligent use of a firearm has the same penalty" as negligent homicide, Harrison said. "Someone is dead, and it was an accident. If you can do the same thing with a firearm, why not with a car? It's an accident either way." A person can also obtain a permit with an 8-year-old conviction for stalking; felony drunken driving; aggravated assault; aggravated domestic assault; accosting, enticing or soliciting a child for immoral purposes, or various firearms charges. Harrison, 60, had received annual permits from the Kent County gun board for nearly a decade to carry handguns for hunting and target practice. In September, with the new law in place, his application was rejected because of his conviction in the 1962 accident. The retired metal fabricator, a firearms instructor at Red Flannel Rod and Gun Club, has appealed the rejection to Kent County Circuit Court. Harrison was 20 years old when he was driving home from work on Aug. 2, 1962. Elsie Jackson, 58, of Grant, was riding in the opposite direction in a car with her husband, Francis Jackson, 59, a stockbroker in Fremont. Their cars collided head-on near the Muskegon-Kent County border after Harrison's vehicle crossed the center of the dirt road. Elsie Jackson died. Her husband and Harrison were treated at hospitals for minor injuries. Former state Rep. Michael Green, a Mayville Republican who sponsored the concealed-weapons bill, defended the law, saying it was written to allow law-abiding citizens to get permits. But he acknowledged that Harrison's legal problem might show a need for revision. "He may have a valid point," said Green, who lost his legislative seat because of term limits. "Whenever a law is passed, there are opportunities for changes. There may be crimes we didn't look at. I would encourage legislators to look at the issue." MORE MICHIGAN STORIESFREEP FRONT | NEWS FRONT - NEW TODAY

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