JAMES GOLDBERG may have to wait until 2009 to have his pistol permit restored, even though breach of peace charges against him were thrown out in court.

LINK TO COMPLAINT AND REQUEST FOR A RULING ON GUN LAWS

By TRACY GORDON FOX | Courant Staff Writer

October 8, 2007

James Goldberg was never in trouble with the law, never even had a traffic ticket. And he had no difficulty obtaining a gun permit to carry a pistol to his job as night manager of a liquor store for protection.

So when Glastonbury police seized Goldberg's gun and revoked his permit - following his arrest on charges of breach of peace June 21 at Chili's restaurant after an employee complained about seeing the gun under his T-shirt - friends and family, even the Wethersfield police chief who signed off on the gun permit, figured it was a misunderstanding that would be quickly corrected.

The misdemeanor charge was dismissed about a month later in Superior Court in Manchester, leaving Goldberg, 29, with a clean record. But he will have to wait until May 14, 2009, for a hearing before the Board of Firearms Permit examiners, a civilian board that hears appeals on revoked or denied gun permits.

Goldberg, who has hired an attorney and plans to file a federal lawsuit over the delay, is not alone.

In fact, M. Peter Kuck, secretary of the Board of Firearms Permit Examiners, who was appointed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell for the firearms permit board, has filed his own federal lawsuit against the state police, saying that even he could not have his permit renewed in a timely manner. He cites an average delay of 17 to 20 months and sometimes up to three years that he and others have to wait for a hearing.

Kuck blames the State Police Special License and Firearms unit for mismanagement, arrogance and attempting to create its own laws on gun permits. The unit, composed of troopers, is responsible for the issuance of state pistol permits, oversight and regulation of firearm sale transactions, and issuance of licenses.

When a permit has been denied or revoked by police, a gun owner can go before the seven-member civilian board of firearms permit examiners, a kind of last resort to get a permit. About 300 cases are brought to the board each year. The case load increased dramatically after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to records.

Both Kuck and Goldberg are claiming a violation of due process rights for citizens seeking gun permits, a frustrating problem that has in some cases put careers on hold as people wait for months to get a hearing before the review board.

Even though Kuck is one of those board members responsible for the permits of others, he cannot get his own permit renewed until he goes for a hearing Nov. 13, 2008.

"It is not only him, but a lot of people, and we don't even know how many at this point," said Rachel Baird, Kuck's attorney. "It is clear that his due process rights were being violated."

"Since the complaint has been filed, additional information has come to light that will require amending the complaint and adding new defendants," Baird said.

Standing up for his civil rights has not made Kuck popular with the board. He recently learned that there has been an attempt to remove him from the board because his actions were costing the state money.

"We have tried to involve the governor's office to have him removed, but the statutes [on appointments] tie their hands," Susan Mazzoccoli, executive director of the civilian board, wrote in an e-mail to an employee of another state agency.

Abuse Of Power?

Scott Hoffman, owner of Hoffman's Gun Center in Newington, said the waiting time and hassles are a constant complaint with his customers.

"There is no due process," Hoffman said, adding that the state police firearms unit is understaffed and under-funded to do the job. "It's nuts, completely nuts."

He said he is glad that two gun owners are finally taking the state and the review board to task. "It's like fighting city hall. It's a very hard thing to do. You have to have the money and the stomach to do it."

Kuck, a member of the Ye Connecticut Gun Guild Inc., submitted his application to the Department of Public Safety to renew his permit on March 19, prior to its April 16 expiration date. But state police demanded that he submit a birth certificate or U.S. passport for the renewal, saying one of those forms of ID have been required for renewal since Sept. 11, 2001.

Kuck claims the state police firearms unit has abused its authority by punishing gun owners with long delays and implementing policies that have no basis in law. Kuck says the Department of Public Safety "caused the backlog of cases by not reviewing, processing, and preparing the appeal cases in a reasonable and timely manner for the board's review," according to the suit.

According to Goldberg, he left his job as the night manager of a liquor store on June 21, and went to the takeout section of Chili's to wait for his order. He was wearing camouflage pants and a T-shirt that covered the weapon, which showed when he went to reach for his wallet. An employee became alarmed and called police.

Officers arrived and pushed Goldberg against the wall, while customers and wait staff watched. Goldberg, the soft-spoken son of a 30-year police veteran, said he calmly told the officers he had a permit to carry. They checked it out and found that he did. But because the waitress was alarmed he was arrested for breach of peace. While Connecticut law is silent on concealment of a weapon, many police officers believe the weapon must be hidden from view because of the alarm it causes.

"I have no problems with the officers' actions with regard to the incident," Glastonbury Police Chief Thomas Sweeney said.

But Goldberg, who was working toward becoming an executive security specialist and who would carry a gun as part of the job, said, "This whole situation is making me sick to my stomach. I can't go forward in my career."

State police acknowledge the delay and say they have made some changes. They deny the firearms unit has done anything wrong.

"I will say generically we disagree with the allegations in the complaint, and we expect it will be handled by the attorney general's office," Public Safety Commissioner John A. Danaher III said. "Our people are doing their job correctly."

Lt. J. Paul Vance, a state police spokesman, said guns are not arbitrarily seized, but are taken for good reason. He said the state police must provide information to the civilian board, which hold hearings "that are like a mini trial."

"They are a volunteer board. They can only hear so many cases."

Number Of Appeals Rising

From July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006, there were 329 appeals filed to the civilian board. Between 2006 and 2007 during the same period, there were 338 cases. This year, it is predicted there will be 398 cases, Mazzoccoli said.

Mazzoccoli attributes the delays to a number of factors, including understaffing of the state police.

"I think it's a combination of everything," she said.

The delays were substantiated in a report by state auditors, who in 2005 audited the previous two years, 2003 and 2004, and found that state police "contributed to the backlog by not reviewing and settling a majority of the cases until the month of the scheduled hearing."

Auditors recommended that the civilian review board should ensure timely hearings by increasing the frequency of hearings or the number of appeals scheduled for each meeting. The board meets about once a month, and its members are volunteers. There are about 20 to 40 cases a month on the docket, but they only hear about a dozen.

Regarding the backlog, Danaher said he has taken steps to ease the delay, but would not discuss them because of the pending legal action.

Goldberg and Kuck also have found a mutual ally in Edward Peruta, a free-lance journalist who has been helping them research the issue after they contacted him. Peruta has spent hours on the phone and digging through materials, and has offered to help finance Goldberg's lawsuit.

"I have known James Goldberg since the day he was born. Everybody's rights are being violated when the government violates his rights, and they happened to pick the wrong person," he said. "There are people who deserve to have their permit taken away. James is not one of them."

Contact Tracy Gordon Fox at tfox@courant.com.

Link to Glastonbury Police Report

Link to Memorandum of Law

Kuck emails 1

Gun Board Decides To Halt Decisions

By TRACY GORDON FOX

Courant Staff Writer

October 12, 2007

MIDDLETOWN

The Board of Firearms Permit Examiners refused to hear any gun permit cases at its regular meeting Thursday, saying a lawsuit brought against the state police by one of its own board members may constitute a conflict of interest.

M. Peter Kuck, a member of the board, recently filed a federal lawsuit against the state police, claiming that his gun permit was not renewed in a timely manner and that he and others have had an average delay of 17 to 20 months to wait for a hearing.

In the suit, Kuck blames the state police Special License and Firearms unit for mismanagement, arrogance and attempting to create its own laws on gun permits.

The board's chairman, Christopher Adams, acknowledged that postponing October's meeting and the 12 cases scheduled would only add to the backlog, which he called a "serious problem." But in a four-page statement he read at the meeting, Adams said that "this is a situation that calls for extreme caution out of fairness for all involved."

Adams said the board would have to wait for an opinion from Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on what to do after Kuck sued the state police over the gun permit process, and whether Kuck should be allowed to continue to serve on the board.

Kuck, who had been secretary, was not re-elected to the position Thursday when the board voted for new officers.

Kuck's attorney, Rachel Baird, said the board and two state troopers are trying to remove Kuck from his position. "We have e-mails that they have been trying to get rid of him well before this," she said.

Adams said board members warned Kuck in September that the lawsuit "created a potential conflict of interest on his part, which might be used to call into question his impartiality in adjudicating claims."

Kuck, a member of Ye Connecticut Gun Guild Inc., submitted his application to the Department of Public Safety to renew his permit on March 19, prior to its April 16 expiration date. But state police said he must submit a birth certificate or U.S. passport for the renewal, saying one of those forms of ID have been required for renewal since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Kuck says the state police firearms unit has abused its authority by punishing gun owners with long delays and making policies that have no basis in law.

Kuck's claims are echoed by James Goldberg of Glastonbury, who also plans to file a lawsuit over the long delay to get his gun permit back. Goldberg's permit was revoked after he was charged with breach of peace when a restaurant employee called police after seeing his gun under his shirt. The charges were dropped in court.

In a statement of his own, Kuck said that the lawsuit filed last month "is not about me, but about all the appellants who have sought relief from the board."

"As a member of the board and its secretary, my priority is to hear and decide the cases that have been prepared for presentation and are scheduled for hearing before the board today," he said.

The board's next meeting is scheduled Nov. 8.

Baird said the board has known since Sept. 18 about the lawsuit and questioned why it hadn't called a special meeting before Thursday to discuss the issue and vote to get the attorney general's guidance.

"They wait till Oct. 11 when everyone shows up. People paid their attorneys to be there," Baird said. "They staged this thing to turn public opinion against Peter Kuck for standing up for the rights of the appellants."

Attorney Ralph D. Sherman had several clients waiting for their hearing, who were turned away Thursday.

"They have already been waiting a year and a half," he said, adding that the delay would affect employment for at least one of his clients. "They are disappointed."

Contact Tracy Gordon Fox at tfox@courant.com.

Courant Editorial October 15, 2007

Needless Gun Permit Delays

Laws that regulate gun ownership in the interest of public safety should be strong and tightly enforced. Easy access to weapons by people intent on committing violent crime remains a serious problem in Connecticut.

That said, legitimate gun owners who are only too willing to play by the rules should not be improperly inconvenienced when it's time for them to renew their permits. Many of these owners are experienced security professionals with clean records who need weapons for their livelihood.

Unfortunately, the state police Special License and Firearms unit has fallen into a pattern of denying permit renewals to reputable owners and then delaying their appeal hearings before the state Board of Firearms Permit Examiners by more than a year. The backlog of requests for appeal hearings has risen to nearly 400 a year.

Denials and delays have understandably provoked numerous complaints and a federal lawsuit by none other than the secretary of the board of examiners, M. Peter Kuck, accusing the state police of mismanagement, abusing its authority and violating the due process rights of citizens seeking gun permits.

Board members infuriated gun owners even more last week by removing Mr. Kuck as secretary and refusing to hear any more appeals pending an opinion from Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on whether the lawsuit prevents him from ruling impartially on cases.

The sensible thing would be to ask Mr. Kuck to refrain from voting on appeals until the matter of his potential conflict is settled. Suspending the renewal process and adding to an already extensive backlog only bolsters the argument that the system is mismanaged.

Public Safety Commissioner John A. Danaher III says his troopers are now speeding up the process. That's encouraging. Too bad that didn't happen until a lawsuit was filed.

One can understand why troopers - in the absence of strong gun-control laws - would want to do their part to limit the proliferation of guns in Connecticut.

But foot-dragging on gun permits for people who want to act responsibly is not the smartest way to fight terrorism or violent crime.

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