1974 Attorney General's opinion letter (letter found & posted)

[Window_Seat]

On "Good Cause" as defined in 12050. I'm looking for this letter that he wrote, I know it's online somewhere, but I can't find it (after searching). I even looked inside the Wiki. A link would be appreciated, thanks.

(ETA): Link to the 1977 letter, courtesy of CCWFacts in post #3. it's 5 pages long, but very well worth taking the time to read it multiple times.

Erik.

[bigtoe416]

If you give the citation somebody could go look it up in a law library.

[CCWFacts]

I have the 1977 letter for you. It talks about good cause, but talks more about good character, and Saulte v. Pitchess. If you find a 1974 letter, please let me know and I'll post it as well.

[cindynles]

Is this what you are looking for?

"Convincing evidence of a clear and present danger to life, or of great bodily harm to the applicant, his/her spouse, or dependent child, which cannot be adequately dealt with by existing law enforcement resources, and which danger cannot be reasonably avoided by alternative measures, and which danger would be significantly mitigated by the applicant's carrying of a concealed firearm."

[Window_Seat]

This is exactly what I was looking for, unless there is actually a 1974 letter, otherwise, it would have been 1977, thanks!!!!!!!!!!

Erik.

[Glock22Fan]

Lots of useful stuff on our site, including this.

[Bugei]

Jeepers

Is this what you are looking for?

"Convincing evidence of a clear and present danger to life, or of great bodily harm to the applicant, his/her spouse, or dependent child, which cannot be adequately dealt with by existing law enforcement resources, and which danger cannot be reasonably avoided by alternative measures, and which danger would be significantly mitigated by the applicant's carrying of a concealed firearm."

If that's the actual basis used to judge good cause statements on CCW applications in some jurisdictions, no flipping wonder you can't get a CCW in those counties. You'd have to have Charles Manson in the back seat of your car before they'd admit to seeing "Convincing evidence of a clear and present danger".

The fact that there are counties that do NOT follow this as a guideline and are, in fact, CCW-friendly, is a tribute to the current CLEOs.

[CCWFacts]

Is this what you are looking for?

"Convincing evidence of a clear and present danger to life, or of great bodily harm to the applicant, his/her spouse, or dependent child, which cannot be adequately dealt with by existing law enforcement resources, and which danger cannot be reasonably avoided by alternative measures, and which danger would be significantly mitigated by the applicant's carrying of a concealed firearm."

That's the quote which everyone has seen, but it's only a tiny piece of the full five-page letter. The letter itself is well worth reading, although it's quite out-of-date, due to recent developments (broad experience with shall-issue in the US, plus the recent Heller ruling).

[Window_Seat]

One of the major problems I have with this standard is that LEAs are allowed to judge an applicant on the basis of whether their actions might have been causal (I stole that word from a leftist professor) of a situation involving a "clear & present danger", so I could have been involved in a trespassing situation where I kicked a few known criminal gang bangers off my business or home property, and these bangers might now decide that I'm going to be subject to their "clear & present danger" because I "kicked them off my property", and the Sheriff decides that I instigated the situation and denies my application even though there are bullet holes in my living room and death threats on my answering machine and under my doormat.

This opinion makes it possible for the issuing authority to make these kinds of assessments & judgments, and it ain't gonna be easy to go after this standard, especially since it's so old & sticky.

This is one reason why I am donating what I can to the CalGuns Foundation.

Erik.

[boxbro]

Billy Jack talks about it here, so something tells me he has it.