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Ok, thanks
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I had my interview this morning with the Contra Costa Co. Sheriff's dept. Bear in mind this is a county with a population of about 1 million. The interview lasted about 10-12 minutes.
I was interviewed by a Lt. I'll withhold his name for the sake of his privacy. He was extremely polite, on time, friendly, and low key. A very personable individual and a fine example of law enforcement. You must present two forms of address verification, one of which must be a government issued photo ID. I used my auto registration as my 2nd form. The Lt. mentioned that my Calif. record is clean, which I already knew....but obviously they check on it, which they should.
For what it's worth, I had attached copies of my FFL Type 03 and my COE to my application, simply because both of them required background checks to obtain. Probably not worth much, but can't do any harm.
The Lt. ran through the application questions, typing answers into the computer. I'll just mention a couple of questions that I thought were significant, although they're all listed on the application as was mentioned in this thread already: have you been issued a CCW in another State (not in my case). What is your shooting experience (years---I also mentioned my service experience)? Are the weapons listed registered to me?
On the question about my reason for applying, I had two answers. First, self defense; second, I am a church treasurer and run deposits to the bank. He asked what the typical size of these deposits is and I answered in a dollar range.
He asked if I had any questions, and my only question was about the renewal process (see below). I didn't ask what the Sheriff's current policy on CCW is, because I didn't want to know the answer in these circumstances.
He explained that I will get a letter informing me whether or not I'm approved, but couldn't say how soon. If approved, I'll be scheduled for a 4 hour range session to qualify on the two handguns I listed on my application. I asked about renewal...it's every two years and you have to re-qualify on the range at renewal time. He said that is a good time to add or change your listed weapons; he said you can just bring the new weapon to the range qual and have it added then.
The Lt. had obviously scheduled a series of back-to-back interviews. One gentlemen was leaving as the Lt. came out to the lobby and called me in. I also couldn't help noticing that there was a stack of CCW applications (all attached to blue files, all look the same as mine) on his desk this morning.
I didn't count, but I'd guess there were 6 or 8 and he probably worked through all of them this morning. I don't know if more will be interviewed this afternoon. I would guess they bunch them up and run through a batch of us all on one day, so they can attend to other duties through the week. So, assuming they do this once a week, and assuming, say, between a dozen or 18 on that one day, that's between 48 and 72 per month out of a large county. That's a wild guess based on nothing but assumptions. Still, it tells me I'm not an outlier.
I thanked the Lt. for all he does to keep us safe, and he thanked me for that and said "we don't hear that often enough", which I'm sure is true.
I have not heard anything current and reliable about this County's current posture on CCW. I'll hope for approval, but now it's just more waiting.USN Veteran, Gun Owners of Calif. Member, NRA Life Member
You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness. (Ronald Reagan, 1964)Comment
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Good luck. I heard it was damn near impossible to get a CCW in the Bay area.Comment
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Solano Co's sheriff (Ferrara) has liberalized issuance, but still requires more than mere SD.
For those who work in CoCoCo, you can realistically get a CCW in Solano, Sacto, or San Joaquin county and commute into CoCoCo. If you currently live in CoCoCo too and you're a renter, just move to get your CCW. If you're an owner: either sell and move, or rent out and move. Then, if you want, move back after CoCoCo goes vSI.
This works w/parts of Ala Co too: Solano is also an option for folks who work in Berkeley and north, and San Joaquin is an option for folks who work in the Dublin-Pleasanton-Livermore area.Comment
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What is "vSI"?USN Veteran, Gun Owners of Calif. Member, NRA Life Member
You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness. (Ronald Reagan, 1964)Comment
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Virtual Shall Issue. And while it's extremely tempting to move one county over, there are more considerations for me personally than a CCW. I for one will just have to wait until something changes with our Sheriff's policy or there is an unexpected change in my employment situation.Comment
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Just stay focused, cool. Calm and confident and most importantly stick to the questions.sigpicComment
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