H.R. 218 was enacted July 22, 2004, which gave all active duty and retired law enforcement officers the right to carrying concealed weapons in any US state, exempting/amending them from The Gun Control Act of 1968.
The law works fine for current LEOS but there has been a problem at least in my home state of New York (no surprise) for retirees because in the H.R. 218 wording retirees have to "qualify" to be able to use this law. Respective departments are suppose to issue photo ID'S saying the retired LEO from their departments have passed shooting qualifications (1 year qualification, must be renewed every year) in compliance with H.R. 218. and put the gun(s) make, caliber and serial number on the ID card. That has caused alot of problems, as alot of State Governors who dislike or are totally anti-gunners, have set their own rules of qualifications, which don't conicide with another states, giving Governors the power to say no retired LEOS allowed in my state, since they don't met my qualifications, which can change at will to suit their needs.
In my area of upstate New York, other problems have come up such as, departments can't afford to have current/active range officers supervise the qualifications, to which our retirees group responded we have retired range officers willing to donate their time to for this, then we were told there would/might be an insurance question/problem using the Public Safety indoor range,.... what if someone got hurt? Our reponse was we retirees would sign waviers, just like civillians do on ride alongs. This goes on and on.
Last year I met a retired deputy sheriff from Florida who had such an ID card, and said that his department went out of their way to get all the retirees who wanted one of these H.R. 218 ID cards to get one.
Speaking of Florida, I just renewed my Florida Concealed Weapon and Firearm License for the third time this month. The license is good for (7) years and is good in alot of states (too many to list) even though I live in New York. I have family in Georgia and friends I stay with in Florida so this license works great for me.
So my question to fellow retirees..How is this H.R. 218 working out for you, and are you having similar problems like us here in New York? Any input from you might help resolving our problems up here. Thanks.
***UPDATE***I am pleased to say that as of June 30th 2011, all the bugs and other problems were finally worked out, and I took the approved Hr 218 LEO Safety Act of 2004 course here in Monroe County, New York, and passed with flying colors, and now have a certificate/Id card granting me permission to carry a revolver or automatic pistol anywhere in the US. The approved course is open to all retired LEOS regardless where the LEO was employed, as long as the LEO meets the requirements set forth by HR 218. In my class there was a retired LAPD SGT. who recently moved back to upstate New York. These courses will now be given every month. It took for us here almost seven years to finally get this certification course approved, and moved forward, but now there should be no more problems in the future. Thanks to the powers to be, and the hard work our retirees union did to finally get this done. I personally feel that all concealed pistol licenses should be good in all states, just like driver's licenses, etc, but unless things change with the US Congress, I don't see that happening, any time soon.