Oakland County Commissioners Host Panel Discussion on Gun Violence

The Oakland County Board's Public Service committee will host a public hearing Feb. 26 focusing on gun violence.

The event is the first in a three-part series of special public hearings spearheaded by County Commissioners Bill Dwyer (R-14th District) and Commissioner Marcia Gershenson (D-13th District). The pair have formed a bipartisan group to study the gun registration process, especially as it relates to mental health. 

Dwyer, who once served as Farmington Hills Police Chief, said the panelists will include Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe, Executive Director of the Chiefs of Police Bob Stevenson (also the former police chief of Livonia), and West Bloomfield Police Chief Mike Patton.

The group will discuss and answer questions related to loopholes in the gun background check system, look at what we can be done to prevent gun violence and offer recommendations to strengthen Universal Background Checks.

In January, Dwyer and Gershenson announced that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners would begin studying the gun registration process in light of several mass shootings in New Mexico and Connecticut.

"There's no easy solutions here, but we think that there are a number of loopholes which must be addressed," said Dwyer.

According to West Bloomfield Police Chief Michael Patton, deficiencies in reporting, sometimes in-between state lines, have led to situations in which a mentally ill person could have been given a license to own a gun.

"You don't want to marginalize someone, but the information we have and use to make our decisions is only as good as the information which is being put in," Patton said.

The panel discussion starts at 11:30 a.m., in Committee Room A at the Oakland County Government Center, 1200 North Telegraph Road, Pontiac.