Fingerprint delay hits foster care (Concealed Carry checks blamed)

STLtoday.com ^ | 8-24-04 | Matthew Franck

[FairWitness]

JEFFERSON CITY - If bureaucracy hadn't got the better of her plans, Peggy Slater says, the two bedrooms she just added to her home would have been filled with foster children weeks ago.

< snip >

Instead, she and dozens of others wishing to become foster parents in Missouri are enduring weeks, if not months, of delays with their applications.

Standing in their way is a backlog of fingerprint checks caused in part by a new state law demanding more rigorous screening of foster parents. < snip >
But the fingerprint checks have been delayed further by the rush of applications for Missouri's new concealed gun permits.

And according to state officials, processing the gun permits has a higher priority under state law - a fact that has some foster care applicants fuming.

"Since when did carrying a gun become more important than caring for a child?" asks Paula Flores of Warrensburg, who only recently was approved as a foster parent after months of delay.

< snip >

Under Missouri law, if the background checks on gun permit applicants aren't completed in 45 days, the permit is issued anyway. That provision has given the gun permit applications a higher priority than those for future foster parents, said Capt. Chris Ricks, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol.

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[FairWitness]

I have great sympathy for the need for good foster care homes, my wife having been a foster care worker at various times throughout her career. I hope they get through the backlog quickly. However, knowing that the Post-Dispatch is very happy to find any story that is negative for concealed carry, I suspect they have made this sound as bad as they could. The good news is the large number of Missourians who are applying for concealed carry.

[coloradan]

They wanted government intrusion into RKBA, and they got it. Now they are complaining? I'd be happy with Vermont carry everywhere ... no fingerprints needed. But, that just won't do.

[glorgau]

If only we could ban concealed carry of guns...

For the children!

[Studebaker Hawk]

"Since when did carrying a gun become more important than caring for a child?"

I'm carrying/caring for that inner child in me.