Do You Remember Getting Your First Concealed Carry Permit?

[Stevens]

I got mine in 1997 and have renewed every 5 years since then. The first was by the local sheriffs dept. Renewals by various approved instructors, one of which was the local Episcopal Minister, good for him!
Steve W

 

[Model 19 6"]

My 1st was hunting and target shooting only. I had to go before a board, consisting of 2 from the sheriffs dept. 2 from city police dept. and 1 from state police. They asked questions, and we were allowed to ask any we might have. It took a couple days and I had mine.

 

[ancient-one]

I ddon't remember the year that they were available in OK. Me, my brother,daughter and son-in-law took the class as soon as they were available. Still costs you around $100 to get a CCL here, even if you no longer have to take the class.
Mine runs out in 2023 and I will be ninety eight and will renew if I am still getting out and about. Should have gotten the ten year instead of the five.

 

[Golddollar]

When I was living in Maryland back in 1995, Maryland wouldn't issue carry permits unless you were connected. But then Florida was issuing non-resident carry permits, and a cottage industry developed in Florida for going to other states and helping people get qualified in order to apply for a non-resident Florida carry permit. So one day one of these companies was set up at a gun show in Allentown, PA. There were lectures, including the legalities of use of force, and a local policeman was there to take fingerprints. After the lectures, all of the students went out to an indoor range and fired one round in front of the instructor. With all of these conditions met, I was able to apply for and receive my non-resident Florida carry permit. The Florida permit was popular because so many states recognized it.

It turned out to be time and money well spent. Not only did I get in a position to apply for my carry permit, I got a hour's credit for my Mandatory Continuing Legal Education for my PA law license.

 

[doublesharp]

1978, I had to write a short letter telling why I needed to conceal carry. The sheriff was my friend and told me what to write, something like this:

'I live in a remote area and work odd hours often carrying large sums of cash operating my produce business'

renew every 4 years until early 2000s when Indiana went to lifetime carry permit and I got mine asap.

 

[Grayfox]

1991 and I had just learned that there actually was a Handgun permit available in Tennessee. It was "may issue" from the local Sheriff and only good in your county of residence.
I inquired and was simply told that the first step was to write a letter to the Sheriff explaining why you wanted a permit. No other details, explanation or exactly what was to be in the letter was given. So I simply said a bit about myself as an honest citizen and stated that I was concerned about rising crime and wanted to protect my family.
I was concerned because I had learned for a fact that the Sheriffs in many other counties never issued permits just out of personal prejudices against armed citizens.
But I got lucky. Our Sheriff at the time was pro-2nd Amendment and approved my application. However, that was just the start. There was mandatory training classes that were 2-3 hours twice a week for, I believe it was 4 or 6 weeks, followed by range qualification and finally you had to get a $10,000 bond.
Firearms were limited to only DA revolvers and Semi-autos by just a few select makers and could only be .38 Special, .357 Magnum, 9mm or .45acp. Plus you had to qualify on the standard Sheriff's Department COF with the gun you carried annually. And you could only carry the gun you qualified with. You could get other guns added to your license, but that included a separate range session for each additional gun. I qualified with a 3rd Issue Colt Detective Special with a score of 93.
It was a bit of a pain, but I jumped through all the hoops and got my permit.

In 1994 Tennessee went to a state wide "Shall issue" Handgun Permit system. I was immediately grandfathered into the new system and was one of the first to get the new state handgun license.

 

[wood714]

My Florida permit is good in multitudes of states. Sucks that a couple years ago SC changed their laws. We rode thru there a few times going to NC.

 

[swsig]

I went through the Texas license process in 2014. I had to take a four-hour class, which covered gun safety, Texas gun laws, and when not to shoot. It was followed by an easy written test. It also included an easy 50-round shooting test. If you could hit paper on a 24"x45" B27 target at 3, 7, and 15 yards, you passed. The instructor submitted my scores to the Department of Public Safety, and I then applied for my license online. I also had to be fingerprinted, and those were submitted to DPS electronically. I can't remember what all the fees were, but they were around $100-150 in total.

A couple of weeks after my fingerprints were submitted, I got a letter from DPS. Unfortunately it did not contain my license, but a notice that my application had been rejected because my fingerprints were unreadable. I went to a different fingerprint place and re-submitted them. A week or so later, I got another letter from DPS. Again, no license, but another rejection because of unreadable fingerprints. Apparently I have no fingerprints. Rather than try a third time, I called DPS to ask what a fingerprintless applicant could do. I immediately got through to a very cheerful and pleasant young woman who told me to wait a second while she reviewed my application. She returned to the phone and said, "Your license is in the mail." Say what?!! I had to ask her to repeat herself, and she assured me that I had been approved. A couple of days later, I had my license in hand. Total time involved, even with the fingerprint snafu, was about six weeks.

I guess fingerprints are optional in Texas, because Texas wants you to be licensed. Currently over 1.6 million Texans have Licenses to Carry. I'm surprised that the state hasn't yet come up with a "recruiting" poster with Uncle Sam (Houston) pointing at you, saying, "I WANT YOU to get a License to Carry". The soon-to-be-enacted constitutional carry law will take all the suspense (and fun) out of it.

 

[S-W4EVER]

My Dad moved to WA when I was overseas and I decided to settle there when I got out of the Army (at 21). I got my Concealed Weapons Permit shortly thereafter and kept it throughout my LE career. (It used to allow you to skip the waiting period when buying a pistol.)

Now that I'm retired I still renew it when it comes due (even though LEOSA applies) as I like having something issued by the County Sheriff (who believes in our Bill of Rights).

 

[Rob613]

Mine was just a few years ago...$10 for the application, $100 for finger prints, 2 hour non-shooting informational class with the Sheriffs office...turned all the paperwork in and 9 weeks later I got a letter that said my permit was ready to pick up.

PA was fill out the form, 20 minutes and $20.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

No, many years ago.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[zeke]

Got first one when Wi started issuing cc permits to general public, maybe almost 8 yrs ago? Took the training, which was mostly elemental with no shooting required, and got permit soon after. Gov instructed the Departments they were to allow employees to carry, and likely was first in our district and region to do so. Alone in an office full of mostly consisting of libby tree huggers. Made sure i didn't print.

 

[rubiranch]

When I first got mine I didn't even own a gun.

 

[rwt1405]

My first was in 1986.

At that time, the PA LTCF permit had an area for Make & Model, Caliber, and Serial number.

The next year (1987), the Sheriff issued me what my friends called my "PA MasterCard".

While I'm sure many other PA LTCF permits were issued similarly, the county I was working in (at that time) did not issue them like that (Any/All/Any).

When I was moving, I found some of my old PA LTCF permits, so I've attached my 1986 and 1987 PA LTCF permits.

 

[2152hq]

NY State , 1968
18 y/o. The law actually says(said) they would issue at age 17 which was when I applied.
But It didn't get issued till 1 week after my 18th B-day.
I had my $41 and change new Ruger Standard Model Auto and then a used S&W HD 5" nickel 38-44 for $45.
When the GCA went into effect later that same yr in December, I couldn't buy any more handguns till I turned 21y/o.

 

[Greyman50]

My Florida permit is good in multitudes of states. Sucks that a couple years ago SC changed their laws. We rode thru there a few times going to NC.

Good that this was posted, I thought my Fl CCW was good in S.C....Guess I'll be passing through S.C. from now on, no stops or spending $$$$. Sad as Palmetto Armory is there......

 

[Onomea]

There's an app for that:



You tell the app your permits and it lets you know where you are legal. In my case, Oregon resident and Utah non-resident looks like this:



The app updates automatically to keep track of changes in state laws.

 

[Jon651]

Do I remember getting my first Concealed Carry Permit?

Yes - it was only a few months ago.

Is this some sort of test???

 

[CB3]

1973–Connecticut. Had to show need, which for me was carrying large amounts of cash for business. It was a declaration only, no proof submitted. A few weeks later it arrived with no need to detail what gun(s) I would carry. No class, no training, no expectations. Pretty simple really. It was before all the silliness started.

Started off with a Browning Hi Power in a shoulder holster. I didn't know what I didn't know at 22 y/o.

 

[Retired W4]

When Georgia went to digital finger prints mine would not show, so they simply did ink and paper. All is fine.