Board backs ruling to deny gun permit

Boston Globe/October 14, 2001

Middletown, Conn. -- A state board has determined that Clinton police were right to reject a gun permit for a member of a white supremacist group.

In June, Clinton police denied a gun permit for Michael Gibbs, 24, who is a state coordinator of the World Church of the Creator. Police took two months to investigate Gibbs's background and found he had no criminal record and no history of psychological problems.

The state Board of Firearms Permit Examiners last week upheld Clinton Police Chief Joseph Faughnan's rejection of the gun permit. Faughnan said Gibbs shouldn't have a gun because of his membership in the supremacist group.

Members of the Illinois-based World Church of the Creator, including its creator Matthew Hale, appeared in Wallingford earlier this year. Police reported some minor skirmishes involving members of the group and people who were there to protest them.

Gibbs argued that Faughnan violated his constitutional rights. He also said nothing in state law bars someone from getting a gun permit based on their association with any group.

Gibbs says he plans to sue Faughnan, the town of Clinton, and the state firearms permit board.