What is the procedure for obtaining a CCW in Sacramento County?

[Shenaniguns]

My reference is to the growing number of "keyboard experts" who claim their way is the only way and your less of a man if you don't follow their way. Which is what such statements as "you shouldn't have a CCW, unless you carry chambered" are.... Statements like that are absolutely absurd, because sadly someone who is uncomfortable with the idea or has little to no experience will follow suit, because they "READ IT ONLINE" and end up shooting themselves. These person(s) are no less important then you or I and deserve the right to self defense, but shouldn't be faced with macho man comments about how the only way to carry is this or that way.... There is only one way to carry, the legal way that is comfortable to you. Trying to pressure inexperienced or poorly trained people into doing things they aren't comfortable with will result in accidents... The more accidents CCW holders have will only equal more fuel and support for the liberals to fight against our progress.

What a surprise too, because we've already had one CCW holder related accident near Auburn, with a CCW holders friend shooting themselves.

If you want to keep your CCW you should be preaching safety, not combat readiness for the mean streets of.... Elk Grove... We're not in Iraq or Afghanistan and unless you aren't really carrying concealed then you aren't anymore of a target then you were a couple of weeks or months ago when you didn't have a CCW. In fact if you have delusions of some mass fire fight against hordes of gang members and child rapists who ambush you in the parking lot of Walmart, I fear you probably shouldn't have a CCW.

Use common sense, if you do not feel comfortable carrying a chambered weapon then do not carry a chambered weapon. As a CCW holder you aren't a hero, you aren't there to engage every single enemy target and you aren't going to be ambushed by Johnny Jihad the second you exit the safety of your home. However what you do WILL ABSOLUTELY REFLECT UPON ALL OF US

And I still state that if you're not ready to carry a firearm in the condition it's suppose to be carried in then you're not ready to carry yet. The same goes with someone who did enough to get his drivers license, but is scared to drive on the freeway or at night. And watch who you're talking to with blanket generalizations, I had an ex-employee and his friend stick a gun in my face robbing me( for a small example of encounters I've had). He got a slap on the wrist for that and the crimes he continues to commit, I have seen him in South Sacramento and Arden Mall. And just because I live in a nice area of Elk Grove, I won't be a victim of crime? What about when I visit my family in the Oakland area or anywhere outside of where I live? So besides steering this thread in the wrong direction with the fantastic training you've recieved from USA, we can take this thread elsewhere or agree to disagree.


I'm not telling anyone they need to be a hero, I'm just saying that you need to train, practice and build confidence with carrying. Or maybe practice with Airsoft until you're comfortable. right Bizcuits?

[dantodd]

I would generally agree that if I were not comfortable carrying a loaded gun that I would not carry one unloaded in hopes that I could actually overcome the fear of a loaded gun and use it in the stress that invariably comes along with any situation that calls for one to use a firearm to potentially take the life of another. I would similarly counsel anyone who asked me about getting a ccw.

But, the whole idea is to create more freedoms.

[Shenaniguns]

I'm not trying to poop in anyone's cereal, but let's be real. If someone isn't comfortable carrying a loaded gun then what makes it safer being unloaded? Nobody is automatically ready to ccw from birth as it is something that should be worked up too just like anything else. Get more training, practice holstering. And unholstering with an unloaded gun safely at home etc...
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, and guns thought to be unloaded have hurt alot of people.

[Bizcuits]

Sigh...

This is the down side of having a battle of wits... Your opponent is often unarmed... Let me know when you find a weapon to use.

[harbinger007]

A couple of people who came in today were coming in for renewals and were very surprised at the crowd. I chatted with one bail bondsman who said they've always asked to come in not more than two weeks before your permit expires. His already expired two days ago but the renewal will get back-dated. I asked Amber about this small window (only briefly, since I was cognizant of the fact about a dozen folks were waiting behind me!) and she said that she tries to coordinate it with the DOJ. That's when she said they would probably go to an appointment system for new/renewal paperwork completion. Some other woman came into the waiting room who couldn't wait and also said she'd just have to come back after her permit expired because she was headed out of town. Seems something needs to be done about this process.

[thebronze]

No rice-paper yesterday, maybe today...

[tiki]

No rice-paper yesterday, maybe today...

If you went in last week, you won't be getting it this week. She's behind and will try to send them out by the end of this week.

[Swift Justice]

I had my initial appointment today. My experience as follows:

1. My appointment had originally been set for December 2. I was called by Ms. Wong a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would like to move it up to November 17 at 11am. Of course I agreed, and showed up today at 10:45.

2. The Deputy downstairs had no record of my appointment. He called upstairs to verify if I had an appointment, and they did not have a record of me either. By this time, I was getting nervous, and of course I had told them that my appointment had been moved up by Amber. They seemed to be not that busy (I was the last one before lunch?) and so they sent me up anyway. I had to leave my driver's license at the desk, and I had to show my good cause statement to the deputy at the check in counter. NOTE: if your appointment gets moved up (or even if it doesn't) I think it would be a smart idea to confirm it with Amber a few days prior to your appointment. I can see where I could easily have been turned away for "not having an appointment".

3. I was met off the elevator on the 3rd floor by Ernie (forgot last name), who is a retired annuitant. He told me he was brought back specifically to help with the increased workload of the new applications, and that he just works this one day per week. He said that last year they had about 100, but this year it looks like they have about 500 applications somewhere in the process. I was not on his appointment list either.

4. Ernie went through my application with me, and had me sign in the appropriate spaces.

5. Once finished, he asked me to wait a few minutes for my interview with Det. Wright, who was finishing up the interview for the applicant before me.

6. I then had my interview with Det. Wright. The standard questions were asked, i.e. any arrest record, place of employment, does your employer know about your application?, etc. I was also asked how long I had owned handguns, how many handguns I own, how often I shoot, and where I shoot. I was asked about formal training or classes, and I gave him a copy of my PC832 certificate. He also asked if I belong to any shooting groups or clubs, like IDPA.

7. I did list the weapons on the app. that I plan on carrying - this was checked by both Ernie and Det. Wright, but more of a check to see if I had put anything, other than an actual requirement, I believe.

8. Det. Wright specifically said that there would not be a follow up phone interview - this interview was "the" interview. He said that they are no longer going to do phone interviews, that they are doing the interviews right when you drop off your app. He said it was just taking too long to do phone interviews due to having to play phone tag, etc., and it was more expeditious just to do them at the same time as the application appointment.

9. He said that the committee was going to meet the first week of next month, but the date might be a little wobbly due to the holidays. He said I should either have an approval or denial letter by the end of December, and that if I did not receive word by then to call and check.

10. Det. Wright had his own list of appointments, and of course I was not on it either. From what I could tell, it looked like there were about 10 or so appointments today.

11. I asked specifically, assuming that I was approved, how long would I have to get livescanned and qualify, etc.? Det. Wright said that there was no set time limit once approval was issued, but if 3-4 months had gone by and you hadn't finished up the process that they would contact you and see if you were going to finish up or if you wanted to abandon your application.

12. The total time I spent there, from the time I walked in downstairs until I walked out again, was exactly 30 minutes.

13. Everyone, including the deputy at the check in window, was courteous and professional. The DMV field offices should emulate them...

[Shenaniguns]

If you went in last week, you won't be getting it this week. She's behind and will try to send them out by the end of this week.

Delay after delay after delay

[Cbr1000Rider]

Sigh...

This is the down side of having a battle of wits... Your opponent is often unarmed... Let me know when you find a weapon to use.

Just a quick side note, I read your argument and agreed fully with the first 2 paragraphs. I really do think people are jumping to conclusions when they believe that if you feel uneasy carrying chambered.. you are unfit to carry at all.

EVERYBODY should have felt uneasy before shooting their first gun, if you didn't, then you had a false sense of security doing something you have never done before but "saw on TV". So that guys argument of.. if you feel uneasy.. DON'T DO IT... means nobody should be firing weapons right now.. since if they were inexperienced they should have never started.

Thanks for your input, I love seeing other levelheaded people here on calguns. It is people like you I would love to have a beer with and makes sticking to these forums easy. FUD is FUD.

[harbinger007]

I had one funny experience when I went in yesterday to finalize my paperwork which I forgot to share. I brought in some farm produce items to Amber so that she'd get my permit in the mail to me sooner (j/k, just was pleased with the way she had been helpful) so I had a little white paper bag (i.e., lunch sack). The deputy at the check in window asked me "you don't have your handguns in there, do you??" I chucked and told him that I didn't and thought it would be an odd way to carry them around (pretty concealed though, I guess). He said he had someone bring in their handguns before because they thought they'd want to check them out.

I think this was brought up once before. At http://www.sacsheriff.com/forms/docu...cw_process.pdf there is the following statement on page 1:

Annual qualification with the weapon(s)/type(s) listed on the permit and safety
inspection of each weapon specifically listed on the permit.

Don't know what they are expecting by putting down the safety inspection comment. There is no mention of that during the various stages of the actual process.

[nosuchagency]

swift, i appreciate the follow up. thx

[CSDGuy]

Given the volume of applicants they're now experiencing, it makes sense to conduct "the interview" right then when you drop off the application because you're essentially a captive audience and they don't have to play phone tag with you.

WRT: inspection process... they put that in so that if they decide that if they decide to require that carry weapons be inspected, they can do that or, more likely, allow any entity that they "approve" to do a qual shoot to also inspect any firearm for proper function prior to the qual shoot.

[harbinger007]

jb7706 posted previously that he and others met with Amber and she clarified that they don't approve any entity to do training. Whoever is authorized by the DOJ to perform the training is okay with SSD. I don't see any way of SSD telling qualification entities that they have to do safety inspections when they are not maintaining a list of entities doing the training. Just seems weird.

[CSDGuy]

jb7706 posted previously that he and others met with Amber and she clarified that they don't approve any entity to do training. Whoever is authorized by the DOJ to perform the training is okay with SSD. I don't see any way of SSD telling qualification entities that they have to do safety inspections when they are not maintaining a list of entities doing the training. Just seems weird.

It's probably, in reality, an unenforced policy. However, I can see that if a trainer wanted to inspect your carry firearms, that kind of policy would allow them to... and the trainer could claim it's an SSD policy.