The Detroit News reports that thousands of people showed up to apply for concealed weapons permits on the first day of the new law going into effect. Not surprisingly, the News reports that the most active part of the state was Wayne County — which includes Detroit — where apparently people began lining up at 2 a.m. to obtain an application and more than 1,000 applications were handed out.
The real test of concealed weapons will be how it goes over in Wayne County which is a very strong Democratic base and would normally be likely to vote heavily against the law when it inevitably comes up for repeal by voters in 2002. On the other hand the entire city looks like something out of Escape from New York.
The Detroit News, for example, is located only a few blocks from the arena where the Detroit Red Wings play. The building looks like some sort of well defended compound you’d find in Beirut, with enormous brick walls topped off by several additional feet of chain link fence studded with features to prevent intruders from getting in.
If there’s any significant drop in crime in Wayne County over the next year and a half, the law might survive. Otherwise, a voting block of out-state suburbanites and Detroit voters will likely kill the law next time around (the same voting bloc was responsible for the overwhelming defeat of a school voucher proposal this election cycle).