A law approved by Democrats that requires a license to purchase a firearm is creating a bottleneck that forcing some to wait for up to a month.

“Some law enforcement agencies are taking a couple weeks to process; though, some are on demand, which isn’t bad, but those are rare,” Grand Rapids gun seller Bill Bultema told WXMI.

The law, approved by Democrats in 2023, went into effect last year requiring anyone purchasing or acquiring a firearm to undergo a criminal background check, and it’s resulted in a massive increase in paperwork for local records officials.

Over the last year, requests for background checks at the Grand Rapids Department of Police Records has skyrocketed by 236%, going from 33 to over 800.

“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,” Grand Rapids records manager Connor Smith told the news site. “During the holiday times in December, we were booked up to four weeks.”

The cost for a background check is $5 in Grand Rapids, and it’s mostly pistol buyers driving demand there.

“I would say it’s still mostly pistols,” Smith said. “We don’t see a lot of rifles, shotguns, things like that. It’s continued to stay more on the pistol side.”

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

It’s a similar situation in neighboring Ottawa County, where officials processed 1,500 applications in 2024, and in Benzie County, where the sheriff has stopped processing applications for nonresidents, according to The Benzie County Record Patriot.

“We hear we process them faster than other places,” Sheriff Kyle Rosa said. “That’s the bottom line, and probably why we’re seeing so many applications coming in here.”

Applications for the license jumped 326% from 74 in 2023 to 315 in 2024, with most requests coming from folks who live elsewhere, prompting the department to restrict applications to residents starting Feb. 1, he said.

“It’s taxing on our staff and slowing us down,” he said. “It’s hard to do all that work on top of everything else we do, which is the reason we aren’t taking out-of-county applications anymore. We want to take care of our citizens first.”

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

The law requires anyone in Michigan who purchases or acquires a firearm to obtain a license and undergo a criminal background check, expanding previous requirements that applied only to pistols.

The measure was approved by a Democratic government trifecta alongside other gun control legislation that’s since resulted in guns confiscated from law abiding and legal gun owners.

Data from the Michigan State Police shows a red flag law that allows police, medical professional or family to petition a judge to confiscate firearms for individuals believed to be a risk to themselves or others resulted in 321 emergency risk protection orders between Feb. 13, 2024 and Feb. 6, 2025, according to The Detroit News.

In numerous cases, the orders involved minors as young as 6 years old, resulting in the removal of weapons from their family home, despite the fact that minors can’t legally own firearms.

“This was a concern of ours … that anyone in the same household of someone subjected to the order is going to have their rights violated, as well,” Great Lakes Gun Rights Executive Director Brenden Boudreau told The Midwesterner.

“This is the kind of stuff we knew was going to happen,” he said, adding Democrats refused to allow gun rights advocates to highlight the issue and others during committee hearings in 2023. “Kids that young can’t own firearms, so you’re essentially red flagging a whole household. There are multiple people getting their rights violated when these orders are put out.”

A separate Bridge Michigan analysis of red flag data from Feb. 13 through Dec. 31 found 73.4% of orders requested were issued, while 21.48% were denied, 1.53% were dismissed, 2.05% were rescinded, and 1.53% remained open. At least seven cases involved minors.

Out of 384 requests reviewed by the news site, 237 were granted ex-parte, or without the accused present, and 111 involved “immediate emergency” requests from law enforcement.

“It looks, to me, like it’s working exactly the way we intended,” state Rep. Kelly Breen, D-Novi, told Bridge.

State Rep. James DeSana, R-Carleton, introduced legislation earlier this month to repeal the red flag law, citing a lack of due process for gun owners. While a majority of Republicans presumably support the bill package – House bills 4138-4140 – a Democratic majority in the Senate is unlikely to approve.

Regardless, GLGR contends the issue deserves fair hearings it argues were not part of the process when Democrats rushed to push through the legislation in 2023.

“The removal of due process is unconstitutional,” DeSana said in a statement. “No one should lose their rights without the chance to defend themselves in court. We need to act and restore the rights of Michiganders by overturning these awful policies.”