Posted on 03/08/2004 6:12:03 AM PST by aomagrat
BELLEFONTE PA - Centre County has been cashing in on Missouri residents' desire to carry concealed weapons.
A legal challenge to Missouri's concealed-weapons law prompted Missouri's attorney general last week to ask counties there to stop issuing permits. But the law allows residents to carry concealed weapons if they have a permit from another state.
So last week, applications from Missouri residents started flowing into the Centre County Sheriff's Office, perhaps spurred by a sample permit bearing Sheriff Denny Nau's signature that was posted on www.packing.org. The Web site bills itself as an information clearinghouse for people who want to legally carry concealed weapons.
Since Monday, the office in Bellefonte has received 650 mailed applications and more than 500 phone calls. But Nau abruptly announced late Thursday afternoon that the county would not process any applications postmarked after March 4, citing a lack of manpower and legal concerns.
That was a few hours after a postal carrier delivered hundreds of letters with Missouri postmarks.
"I got more -- more than yesterday," the carrier said as he entered the office.
"I got 256 yesterday," Corinne Peters, an office secretary, said in near disbelief.
"There's more than that," the carrier replied, depositing the mail on the counter.
Under its recently adopted law, Missourians who are at least 23 years old and have passed a criminal background check and completed a handgun safety course are permitted to carry a concealed weapon. The law also allows those who are 21 and older to carry handguns in their glove compartments without a permit.
The law was challenged and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that, while it upheld the constitutionality of the law, Missouri's Supreme Court found fault with the way the law was funded.
Until the Missouri Legislature repairs the funding mechanism, Attorney General Jay Nixon has asked county sheriffs around the state to hold off issuing permits. The Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that many residents were applying for permits in Centre County.
Nau said he's not sure who posted the sample permit on www.packing.org or how word got out that he was willing to issue the permits. Nau said his office usually processes about 150 permits a month, but last month issued 400 and will exceed that in the first week of March.
"We get them from all states," he said.
To receive a concealed-weapon permit from Nau's office, Missouri residents had to send an application form, a copy of a valid driver's license and a $20 fee. If they passed a criminal background check conducted by Pennsylvania State Police, the sheriff's office mailed them a permit, which they had to sign and return. They would then be issued a copy of the permit and a laminated license card.
A half dozen sheriff's offices in other Pennsylvania counties contacted Thursday by the Centre Daily Times said they have either not received any concealed-weapon permit applications from Missouri residents or have refused to process them.
Allegheny County Sheriff Deputy Janel Diven said that county has received phone calls from Missourians seeking permits but issues them only to people who come to the office in person.
Allegheny County issues more gun permits than any other county in the nation and doesn't have the manpower to deal with out-of-state requests, Diven said. And, she said, "They have to come here and have their picture taken and they have to sign (the permit) here."
Lt. John Freas, of the Chester County Sheriff's Office, said his office has fielded a number of inquiries from Missourians, but it does not issue out-of-state permits to anyone except law enforcement officers with proper identification. The office has followed that policy for about two years, since employees realized there was no way to make sure an individual presenting a driver's license was really who they said they were.
"We had no way of knowing if it was a false ID or a valid ID," Freas said.
Pennsylvania and Missouri have no reciprocal agreement, so concealed-weapon permits issued by Missouri are not recognized in Pennsylvania, Nau said.
The Post-Dispatch article quotes Kevin Jamison, president of the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance, as saying that "you can send 20 bucks off to Pennsylvania and get a license without taking a safety course and not being oriented on the Missouri law and cheating sheriffs out of the money."
Jamison told the Post-Dispatch that he did just that.
As of Sunday, he had yet to receive his permit but said he knew others who had. Jamison added that one of the reasons why Centre County might be popular is because it is much cheaper than Florida, which charges a fee of $117.
Vicky McCloskey, a secretary in the Centre County Sheriff's Office, said the office has always processed requests from out-of-state residents wanting a Pennsylvania permit.
But on Thursday, the secretaries were overloaded.
"We've been just keeping up," Peters added. "And then (the newspaper in) Missouri did this story over the weekend that Centre County could issue a permit Missouri recognized. Monday morning, we got over 150 phone calls, even more since yesterday."
The phones were still ringing yesterday, with almost back-to-back calls from Missouri residents.
"The county has RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) and we have a lady who's been coming in, but she's on vacation for the next three weeks," Peters said. "I called my mother-in-law. She's retired. She's coming in tomorrow. Anyone who wants to help, we'll take."
Who cares what the law says. Counties and towns can do anything they want (just look to San Fransisco and other towns on ignoring the law on gay marriage).
Yep, pretty much. I received mine not too long ago. Just go here to get the form...
www.packing.org
If the Sheriff is charging more than it costs him to process the application, he is STEALING from the applicants. If the fee IS consistent with his costs, the department loses nothing if someone has the paperwork done elsewhere, and pays the department which processed the application.
I have a NH permit, too. The only difference is that my NH permit is on higher quality stock, and is more colorful.Now, I am debating whether to get my MA non-res permit. Losta money & it's olny good for 1 year. After that year, back up to MA to get fingerprinted.....AGAIN.
Like your prints are gunna change? Just another "feel good" obsticle they throw in your way in the hopes (in my case, true) that it'll be too much for you & ya won't want to get it.
I know what you mean. When my South Carolina permit expires, I have to submit two sets of prints with my renewal application. At least the SC Law Enforcement Division will take the prints for free.
I am sure if they need some more money that'll be one of the 1st things to change.
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