Port Huron (MI) Times-Herald: ''2,581 gun permits, zero trouble''

Two years after new law, still no 'Wild West'

Murder rates, shootings and crimes expected by some to rise once Michigan liberalized its concealed weapons law two years ago haven't happened.

Since the state began to allow more people to carry concealed firearms, only two St. Clair County residents have had their permits revoked for violations, officials said.

The state won't release its 2002-03 figures on concealed weapon permits until later this month, but by June 2002 more than 51,000 had been issued.

Locally, 2,581 permits have been issued since the law took effect, St. Clair County Clerk Marilyn Dunn said.

Gunsmith Dan Easterling, a firearms instructor from St. Clair, said the fervor over the permits has died down.

Fears about crimes being committed by gun-toting residents with new concealed weapons permits has not been realized, Easterling said.

"No one's been shooting anybody, and no one's been shot by anyone with a permit. People are much better trained," he said.

Click here to read the entire story from the Port Huron (MI) Times Herald.