In my last column I highlighted the draconian nature of the DC City Council’s changes to the District’s gun control laws quietly passed in December, 2008 amidst all the Presidential inaugural hubbub. But here’s the silver lining – the Council’s repeal of the Police Chief’s discretionary authority to issue gun carry permits makes district residents eligible to obtain mail order handgun carry permits from Pennsylvania
Here’s why:
Pennsylvania requires non-resident applicants to possess a home state carry permit, unless the home state or district does not issue carry permits. Only Illinois, Vermont, and now DC refuses to issue gun carry permits. At least Vermont has a good excuse in that no permit is required to carry a handgun in Vermont, even concealed.
And while it’s true that District residents could always apply for mail order handgun carry permits from such states as Virginia, Florida, and Utah, all of those states charge a significant fee and require both fingerprinting and some proof of training. Pennsylvania on the other hand requires neither proof of training nor fingerprints, nor, thanks to a federal lawsuit I won a few years ago with the help of the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund, disclosure of your social security number.
The acceptance of other states’ gun carry permits (normally only required to conceal guns) has not matured like the acceptance of driver’s licenses which is now universal between states. As a result, many gun owners hold 2 or more carry permits to maximize the number of states in which they can carry their handgun. As this map at HandgunLaw.us illustrates, Pennsylvania’s permit is accepted by many states.
So how do you apply?
Here’s how –under the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act, Pennsylvania sheriffs and the Philadelphia Police Chief are required to issue a “License to Carry Firearms” to all applicants unless the applicant does not pass the background check. But some Sheriffs are more friendly to non-residents than others, and the most friendly Sheriff is Denny Nau of Centre County, home to Penn State’s Nittany Lions.
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Happy Trails,
Sheriff Denny Nau
Sherriff Nau’s web link outlines the following easy process to apply:
· Fill out the Application (consider humoring me and write “not disclosed if any” in the block for optional disclosure of SSN).
· Photos not required now but will be soon
· Submit a copy of a governmentally issued photo-ID (driver’s license is the norm) and proof of address if the ID does not list your address.
· Include payment of $26.00.
· Mail it off to: Centre County Sheriff's Office, 213 East High Street, Bellefonte, PA, 16823
Check out other Gun Rights Examiners:
- Austin: Another Brady hallucination: More guns, more ‘gun violence’ (Part 1)
- Charlotte: Guns and the Constitution: Rep. Itse responds to readers on secession bill
- Cleveland: God and Guns: a Christian viewpoint on self-defense
- DC: DC City Council enables residents’ easy access to mail order handgun carry permits!
- Denver: Active compliance......or not
- Los Angeles: Gun Control: Guns in churches
- Milwaukee: Time to change our attitude about guns
- Minneapolis: Dispelling the myth of 'The Wild West'
- National: When animals attack
- St. Louis: Mexico's bloody drug war is not the fault of 'lax U.S. gun laws'
Comments
Wisconsin is another state that does not issue CCW's to its citizens.
Does this mean that a Virginia resident could get a DC carry permit via Pennsylvania?
kc: No. This means that a DC resident can get a Pennsylvania license to carry firearms (valid for CCW in Pennsylvania and states that accept a non-resident Pennsylvania license to carry firearms).
These permits are not valid in DC though. Yes you can get an out of state PA permit, but it won't do you any good in DC, as DC honors no one's permit.
Also, Colorado, West Virginia, Michigan and New Hampshire do not honor out of state CCW.
However, you can carry in Virginia with a PA CCW.
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