by Jack Lee
Does a concealed weapons permit dovetail with the Constitutional [right] to, keep and bear arms?
One might think so, the concealed carry weapons permit (CCW) is a mere bureaucratic extension of the right to carry. However, in actual practice the concealed carry permit has been issued arbitrarily. The Kern County Sheriff issued over 3000 permits in a 3 year period, only 12 had been handed out in San Francisco and only 3 in Los Angeles County.
In a number of California counties your odds of getting a CCW permit go up proportionate to the size of your contribution to the Sheriff’s re-election fund. If you were a local politician, you most likely got your permit, but if you were merely Joe Blow the taxpayer the odds of getting that weapon’s permit range from zero to good depending on which county you happen to live in.
A City Chief of Police is legally able to issue such permits, but rarely does now because that power was reined in by their City Council who feared a lawsuit.
The standard under which Sheriffs operate was established years ago in state law: to obtain a permit one must in the judgment of the Sheriff be of good moral character and have good cause to carry a loaded gun. The easiest way out of issuing a permit was “good cause” part, and the Sheriff has the final say on what is good cause. AB-357, amends the language of California Penal Code Section 12050 by deleting the requirement to show “good cause” and by changing the language of may issue the permit to shall issue the permit. However, as currently written it also requires full P.O.S.T. training. This means you will be required to take 6 months or more of training for your CCW, as well as a cost of thousands (potentially tens of thousands) of dollars. But, this is probably a moot point given the current liberal makeup of the State legislature. The chances of this bill being passed is slightly less than the odds of getting a CCW permit in LA county.
(In Butte County the Sheriff issues permits to all qualified persons!)