Like in Northampton County, sheriffs in Lehigh, Bucks and Allegheny counties say they are too swamped with applications from all the people who want to carry concealed weapons.
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Lehigh County Courthouse
Sheriffs from populous areas of Pennsylvania said Monday their offices do not always check every part of applications to carry concealed weapons, citing the surge of applicants in the last few months.
Sheriffs in Lehigh, Bucks and Allegheny counties said they do not routinely check references when reviewing an applicant's form. As in many parts of Pennsylvania, those counties have seen large spikes in the number of applications, making it impractical to check everything during the 45-day review period allowed by the state, they said.
"It's an impossibility, really and truly," said Lehigh County Sheriff Ronald Rossi.
The sheriffs contacted Monday by The Express-Times all confirmed they mostly rely on the Pennsylvania Information Check System, or PICS, when reviewing applications. Employees of their departments call state police, who access the system and provide information on the applicant's mental health, criminal background and any relevant protection-from-abuse orders, they said. For the most part, those calls determine if a person's application will be rejected or approved.
"They either say yea or nay," Rossi said.
Those practices mirror those described by Northampton County Sheriff Randy Miller, who said last week his office is not checking references listed by applicants. He declined to say if his office was checking applicants' other responses on the county form, though he said employment and PICS checks are done.
The revelation came only after an application was apparently leaked from the sheriff's office last month, sparking an investigation by the Northampton County District Attorney's Office. Allentown lawyer Richard J. Orloski informed Miller he received an anonymous letter containing the concealed-carry application of Northampton County Council candidate Tricia Mezzacappa. As references, she listed Orloski and County Executive John Stoffa, who both said they were never contacted by the sheriff’s department. Orloski has since objected to Mezzacappa’s application and Stoffa, who wouldn't name the applicant, said he wouldn't have recommended the applicant for a permit.
Stoffa advocates checking personal references and has said he'll ask county council to hire more staff to handle the volume of permit-to-carry applications.
Trooper Adam Reed, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Police, said not conducting the reference checks may violate state law. He cited state law, which says sheriffs shall "investigate whether the applicant's character and reputation are such that the applicant will not be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety."
The matter is ambiguous, he said, because applicants must check a box indicating whether he or she is of good character and reputation. Checking if the correct box is checked may be enough to satisfy the law, Reed said.
Northampton County solicitor Daniel Spengler was unavailable Monday for comment on whether he thinks the county is meeting its obligation.
Workload only increasing
In Lehigh County, the investigation into the applicant essentially ends after the PICS call, Rossi said. His office does not check references or employment and takes no other steps to check criminal history or mental health, he said.
While Rossi could not provide exact figures, he said numbers so far in 2013 are up about 50 percent from the same period in 2012. His office saw the previous annual record for applications broken in September of last year, he said.
"I don't know if there's any letup. It seems to be getting worse," he said.
Allegheny County Sheriff William Mullen and Bucks County Sheriff Edward Donnelly said their offices sometimes conduct reference checks, but inconsistently. Like Miller and Rossi, the sheriffs said the sheer volume of applications has forced their hands. Allegheny County performs them randomly, Mullen said.
Donnelly said his office conducts the checks when staff has the opportunity, though it's been more difficult given the surge in applications. The references, however, are less vital to the application process than the review of a person's mental health and criminal background, he said. In his 10 years as sheriff, Donnelly could not recall one instance where a listed reference provided negative feedback on an applicant.
"Our thing is we're being guided by the PICS. I don't see anything negative provided by the person," he said.
Smaller counties check
The practice of checking references still continues in some of Pennsylvania's smallest counties. Timothy Chamberlain, sheriff of Columbia County, and Cameron County Sheriff Allen Neyman said their staffs investigate every portion of the application process.
In Cameron County, which had a population of 5,085 in the 2010 Census, applications have jumped 33 percent to about 275 a year, Neyman said. He and his two full-time staff members can still handle the workload without dropping any checks, he said. Still, he's heard nightmare stories from counties where the applications outnumber the residents of Cameron County.
"We've been able to get through," Neyman said. "We don't have a whole lot here, but I sure do pity the other counties."
Northampton County's license to carry a firearm application