19. The numbers of robberies and 'offenses against the person' in the M.P.D. in 1966 and the number that involved a firearm are given below with comparable figures for 1965.

20. There is a nominal index of Metropolitan Police firearms certificate holders leading to a file for each holder; an index, by serial number of weapons, of pistols and revolvers held under M.P. certificates; and an index of lost or stolen firearms.

Certificate holders

21. On Dec. 31, 1966, there were 15,584 certificate holders. Their main reasons for having firearms are shown by the following table:

Note: Authorites for prohibited weapons were held by 11 of the above, mainly for theatricals or by collectors.

Dealers

22. On Dec. 31, 1966, there were 360 M.P. registered firearms dealers, roughly divided

General gunsmiths_.

Export/import agents

Shot guns only----

Others (engravers, repairers, etc.)---

Twenty-nine were authorised to deal in prohibited weapons.

Annual turnover

23. The average annual certificate work load 1964 to 1966 was:

AMNESTIES

25. Numbers of weapons surrendered during amnesties are given below:

Note: The M.P.D. figure for 1961 includes 9,435 pistols/revolvers and that for 1965 4,392 pistols/revolvers. 21⁄2m rounds of ammunition were surrendered nationally in 1961 and 2m rounds in 1965.

26. There is likely to be an amnesty for shot guns when the law requiring a certificate for one is introduced (see para. 12). This amnesty will probably be extended to all firearms.

Well, you have been a good witness, an interesting witness, a helpful witness. You certainly know what you are talking about, and we thank you for coming.

Mr. GOMBERG. Thank you, sir.

Chairman DODD. Mr. William L. Cahalan.

Mr. Cahalan, we welcome you.

Mr. Cahalan is the prosecuting attorney of Wayne County, Mich. He graduated from the University of Detroit Law School, was assistant prosecuting attorney until his appointment as prosecutor and is currently chairman of the Michigan-Ohio Gun Control Conference. You are certainly well qualified to appear here as a witness.

By the way, Senator Hart wrote me a note. He said that among other things he would like to be here to introduce you, but he has been presiding at another hearing right now on the Antitrust Subcommittee, but he certainly highly recommends you, and I am going to put his letter in the record prior to your testimony.

(The letter referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 42" and is as follows:)

DEAR TOM: Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 18th, while you are conducting hearings on gun legislation, I will be conducting hearings of our Antitrust Subcommittee on a bill which would exempt the newspapers from antitrust coverage. Because of this conflict, I will not have the pleasure of introducing to you and the subcommittee the Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Wayne, William L. Cahalan.

Bill Cahalan reflects in his public and private life the qualities which brought to his family over a long period of years the grateful thanks of the people of Michigan for their sensitive and conscientious public service. I have known him for many years as a friend, and as a lawyer. His prepared testimony for his hearing, I have had an opportunity to read. He describes in persuasive detail the reason Detroit and Michigan need effective Federal gun control legislation. Toledo and Ohio make it easy for Detroit and Michigan residents to purchase guns and bring them back to Michigan. Many of these purchasers would not be eligible under Detroit and Michigan law to purchase, possess, or carry the weap

on. The easy access to such weapons in Toledo and Ohio nullify the Michigan laws. He makes the point also that the use of rifles and shotguns within Michigan bears no significant relationship to crime and does not present a serious problem to law enforcement in Michigan.

His testimony I know will be of value to the committee and, again, I wish I could be present to introduce him to you.

Sincerely,

PHILIP A. HART.

If Antitrust adjourns before Bill Cahalan goes on, I will join you. Senator DODD. Now, you can go ahead. You have a statement, I know.

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM L. CAHALAN, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY. WAYNE COUNTY, MICH.

Mr. CAHALAN. Yes, I have submitted to the committee a statement, a formal statement, and I have attached to that formal statement two series of exhibits. One we will call exhibit 1, which is the original copy there and a series of exhibits therein, and also another series of exhibits. And I would like, if it would please the chairman and the committee, that those be included in the record of the testimony because I think it helps to explain our testimony.

Senator DODD. Yes, they will be included.

(The statement and exhibits referred to follow :)

TESTIMONY BY WILLIAM L. CAHALAN, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, COUNTY OF WAYNE

Effective law enforcement in Michigan, particularly in the County of Wayne, has been seriously hampered by the unlawful possession and illegal use of fire arms brought into the State of Michigan by residents who are able to purchase these firearms with scarcely any restrictions in the State of Ohio, principally in the City of Toledo and its environs which is only a one hour drive on the Expressway from Detroit.

Michigan has enacted adequate legislation for regulating the purchase and possession of handguns with the state. The statutes (M.S.A. 28.92 et seq.) provide that no person shall purchase a pistol without first having obtained a license therefor. The applicant must be at least 21 years of age, a citizen of the United States and a resident of Michigan for 6 months or more. In no event shall a license be issued to a person who has been convicted of a felony (in the State of Michigan or elsewhere) during the 8 year period immediately preceding the date of his application, or if he has been adjudged insane in Michigan or elsewhere unless he has been restored to sanity and so declared by the court. Applications must be signed by the applicant under oath upon forms provided by the Commissioner of the Michigan State Police. The licenses to purchase are issued in triplicate and delivered to the applicant by the licensing authority. Upon sale of the pistol to the applicant, the seller then fills out the license forms describing the pistol sold, together with the date of sale, and sign his name in ink indicating that such pistol was sold to the licensee.

The licensee or purchaser must also sign his name in ink indicating that he has purchased the pistol. The seller retains a copy of the license as a record of the sale and the purchaser must then return the other 2 copies to the licensing authority within 10 days following the purchase. One (1) copy of the license is then retained by the licensing authority as a permanent official record for a period of six (6) years and the other copy is forwarded within 48 hours to the Commissioner of the Michigan State Police in Lansing. The license to purchase is void if it is not used within ten (10) days from the date of its issue. The provisions of this section does not apply to the purchase of pistols from wholesalers by dealers regularly engaged in the business of selling pistols at retail, por to the sale, barter or exchange of pistols kept solely as relics or curios. Neither do the provisions of this section prevent the transfer of ownership of pistols which are inherited provided the license to purchase is approved by the chief of police.

sheriff, or their authorized deputies, and signed by the administrator or administratrix of the estate or by the next of kin having authority to dispose of such property. It is also provided (M.S.A. 28.429 (1)) that purchase of a pistol without first having obtained a license in Michigan or making a false statement in any application for a license is a misdemeanor.

These laws have been found to be sufficient for the control of handguns purchased within the State of Michigan.

However, law enforcement in this areas has been largely circumvented by those who can leave the City of Detroit and drive to Toledo, Ohio, where handguns may be purchased in various kinds of business establishments merely by making the purchase and giving the seller a name and address. No other requirement is imposed upon the purchaser.

The City of Detroit Police Department, which is largest of thirty-five (35) police departments operating within Wayne County, Michigan, has encountered and documented various incidents with regard to guns that were purchased outside of Michigan and used in the commission of various crimes within the City of Detroit. The crimes in which these firearms were used range over the entire spectrum of misdemeanor and felony criminal statutes, and include some flagrant, reprehensible and violent offenses. Two of these were recent robbery shootings where neither of the victims gave any indication of resisting their assailants and were wantonly slain with weapons purchased in Ohio. Investigating officers were told by the defendants that they had purchased their weapons in Toledo, an Ohio border city 60 miles from the City of Detroit. These persons could not have obtained a permit to purchase a pistol in the State of Michigan since they both had criminal records and would have been disqualified under the provisions of the Michigan statute. Another tragedy within the Detroit area was the senseless slaying of a prominent Jewish rabbi who was killed by a deranged member of his congregation with a gun purchased in the City of Toledo only a short time before. Neither could this man, because of his history as a mental patient, have obtained a permit to purchase or carry a firearm in Michigan because of the careful screening given each applicant. Seemingly, none of the above offenders had any difficulty in obtaining a pistol in nearby Toledo, Ohio, where no restrictions exist. These incidents are only a few of many and frequent occurrences in Wayne County involving tragedies that might have been prevented if more concerned and solicitous supervision of gun purchases were provided for in the laws of states adjacent to Michigan.

Handguns confiscated by the City of Detroit police from defendants in connection with the commission of crimes, and held for use as evidence in those criminal cases, have increased substantially in recent years. In the year 1965, there were 2,910 such firearms seized, followed by 3,970 in the year 1966, and 2,435 seized during the first 6 months (to June 30, 1967) of the current year.

Of the 100 handguns seized each week, 90 of these firearms are found to be unregistered within the State of Michigan and most of these 90 firearms have been used in the commission of crimes. For the most part these handguns are of a foreign make, of such inferior quality that the rifling (grooves in the barrel) is worn out after five (5) shots. This then will cause the bullet to have a "tumbling" reaction after it leaves the barrel and creates what medical personnel call a "keyhole" wound resulting in several perforations and making the wound more difficult to treat. (Certain types of these guns may be purchased for $4.95, and the price range varies from $4.95 to $24.75).

Based on information which has been gathered from surveillances, statements obtained from defendants, and data supplied by Federal and local law enforcement agencies, most of these firearms are purchased by Michigan residents outside of the State of Michigan either by direct purchase or by mail order. These low quality arms are not the type sold in Michigan and are definitely not of the variety usually purchased in Michigan by an applicant who has obtained a permit to purchase in accordance with the statutes and regulations. (These higher grade pistols cost a minimum of $65.00 and ballistics experts state that the superior workmanship of these firearms permits them to still function accurately after 1000 shots.)

The "Saturday Night Specials" found in Michigan and purchased principally from stores in Toledo and the suburbs thereof by Michigan residents in contravention of Michigan law, are the weapons which have been creating the most serious problems in Michigan and which should be the subject of immediate concern and control by Federal legislation. The permissive official attitude in the State of Ohio

and the geographical proximity of Ohio gun dealers to Michigan residents greatly reduce the effectiveness of the Michigan laws regulating firearms and present problems which no amount of state (Michigan) legislation can correct. Michigan laws are adequate and can only be given full effect by Federal legislation requiring its neighbor states to legislate in such a manner as to eliminate thos conditions which permit Michigan residents from circumventing the laws of their own state.

Since December of 1966, officers of the City of Detroit Police Department have maintained close cooperation with law enforcement officers of a Federal agency in carrying out surveillances of the most active establishments in Toledo, Ohio which sell guns. As a result of these police investigations several persons were arrested after returning to Michigan with the firearms which they had purchased in Ohio and were arrested for the felony crime of carrying concealed weapons without a license in violation of the Michigan statute (M.S.A. 28.424) which provides a penalty of not more than five (5) years or a fine of not more than $2,500.00. (A revolver or pistol need not be loaded to be within the prohibition as to carrying concealed weapons in the State of Michigan.)

Most of these persons were prosecuted and convicted under the Michigan law but six (6) were indicted under the Federal Firearms Act as felons who had vi lated the provisions of the Act. Most of those arrested in connection with this violation would not have been entitled to consideration as an applicant for a license to purchase in Michigan because of their previous criminal records. Mary other situations have been reported to the Detroit police authorities by law e forcement agencies outside of Michigan where their Intelligence had obtained information indicating that certain persons from the Detroit area had purchased pistols in other states. Upon investigation it was discovered that these persone would not have qualified as applicants in Michigan because of previous criminal convictions.

As an additional precaution, the Michigan law requires that anyone who own or has in his possession a pistol shall present it for safety inspection whereupo a certificate of inspection will then be issued containing the name, age, addredescription and signature of the person presenting the pistol for inspection, to gether with a full description of the gun. The original of this certificate is delir ered to the registrant, the duplicate is mailed to the Commissioner of Publis Safety where it is filed and indexed as a permanent record (6 years) and t triplicate copy is retained and filed in the office of the sheriff, or commissioner or chief of police as the case may be (M.S.A. 28.97).

The penalty for violating this section is punishable as a misdemeanor (0 L 1948, Section 750.228, being Michigan Statutes Annotated 28.425). This statute gives additional assistance to law enforcement in Michigan in those areas where handguns come into the possession of individuals through means other than br purchases (where a license would be required). Under such circumstances the weapon must be presented for a safety inspection thereby affording the appropri ate agency an opportunity to not only inspect the weapon but also to investigate the background of the applicant.

Vigorous and sustained efforts have been made within Michigan to prevent the purchase, possession and use of firearms by unsuitable persons. Much of thes concerned legislative action and energetic law enforcement activity results in prosecution and conviction, but there still remain far too many criminal siturtions in Michigan which occur because of the easy opportunities to obtain a wes pon afforded those persons by the lax gun laws of neighbor states. A Feders! agency, charged with the supervision of federally licensed firearms dealers, re cently furnished the Detroit Police Department with a list of Detroit residents who had purchased pistols from a salvage company in Toledo, Ohio. This list included 162 pistols purchased during the last few months of 1965 by both mar and female customers. The handwriting and use of aliases and fictitious address were so obviously an attempt to deceive, that investigators were able to segregate the purchases into groups of 34 pistols that were sold to one of the individuais 28 to another, and 30 to a certain female purchaser.

The Scientific Bureau of the Detroit Police Department made an investigati of this list of 162 firearms purchased by Detroit residents in Ohio and, thron. the use of manufacturers' names and serial numbers were able to discover the 17 of these pistols had already come to the attention of the Detroit Police Depar ment, as having been confiscated in connection with family fights, feloni assaults, shootings, concealed weapons, and fatal assaults. Surveys and inve-l.