GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A little more than a year ago, a new gun law took effect in Michigan — one aimed at having better oversight of gun sales.
The law requires a "license to purchase" before someone without a CPL buys a gun. You can get the permit at your local law enforcement agency.
Immediately, there was a sharp uptick in license requests. A gun seller explained this has caused a bit of a headache.
“I grew up around guns. I mean, I can't remember a time not having guns in the house,” Bultema said.
Bill Bultema is not only a gun enthusiast; he’s a seller.
“Somebody wants to buy a gun, just click on an item there, read about it, got descriptions and all that stuff, and they can add it to a shopping cart. Checkout, use a charge card,” Bultema said.
But he's seen issues with Michigan's "license to purchase" requirement.
“Some law enforcement agencies are taking a couple weeks to process; though, some are on demand, which isn't bad, but those are rare,” Bultema said.
That's because getting this license includes a background check.
“I've had a couple of people ask me, ‘Well, I've already had the background check when I got my purchase.’ It doesn't matter; when you come here, you will get another background check,” Bultema said.
In Grand Rapids, the Records Department has been busy.
“We've definitely been staying pretty busy. You know, we're taking a lot of appointments. There are times when the appointments are booked out one to three weeks. During the holiday times in December, we were booked up to four weeks,” Grand Rapids Department of Police Records Manager Connor Smith said.
She and her department have seen an increase over the last year; they saw a 236% increase in background checks.
“I would say it's still mostly pistols. We don't see a lot of rifles, shotguns, things like that. It’s continued to stay more on the pistol side,” Smith said.
The cost of a license? Five bucks. So where does that money go?
“That fee is actually the fee that we charge for the notary of the application. And, to my understanding, that just goes into the GRPD budget,” Smith said.
Bultema says he has an idea to make this process easier and faster.
“When you get to the places to purchase from the local law enforcement, that's all going to be filled up by hand, and that, it takes much longer to do. And my handwriting is not perfect, so, like I said, I hate doing it that way. I just wish the state would come up with an easier way to do it. We could do it electronically,” Bultema said.
To contextualize just how busy law enforcement is with these LTP applications, over the last year, GRPD's records department handled more than 800 background checks. The year prior, it was 33. The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office tells me they’ve also seen a spike. In 2024, they handled more than 1,500.
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