Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Never underestimate the stupidity of a bureaucracy.
Couple of weeks ago I got my notice from the state that it was time to renew my CCW permit. The whole process was fairly straight forward: go to the sheriff's office, hand over my driver's license and other ID, have them renew the paperwork on their end (checking to make sure I hadn't done anything which would warrant losing my permit); then over to the Driver's License center for a new ID.
I use a non-driver's ID for my CCW permit. It costs me an extra couple of bucks to have a separate ID, but that way if I have to hand over my DL to someone, they don't know that I have a permit to carry. It's not an issue for the police, should I get pulled over or something, since the CCW info is tied into the driver's license database. And this way, I always have a second photo ID.
So, I got to the Driver's License center. Light crowd, and it only took me a minute to get to a clerk. Who took my paperwork, pulled up the info on her computer, and said that since none of my information had changed, the simple thing to do was just to issue a renewal with the updated CCW expiration date. Cool.
Then she asked if I had a birth certificate or passport.
Yeah, the Real ID Act.
Now, think about this for a moment. I was getting a renewal of my CCW permit. Said permit requires initially a fairly thorough background check by the State Highway Patrol, along with plenty of ID and documentation about competency. The renewal paperwork had to be processed by the local sheriff's office, and then an additional form issued requiring me to get the new ID endorsement within a week. Nothing had changed in my file since the original ID was issued three years ago - all they were going to do was just change the date of the CCW expiration. And yet they did not trust their own system to confirm that I was who I was.
Yeah, I had my passport with me. I knew not to underestimate the stupidity of the bureaucracy. I handed it over, and the clerk scanned it for just a moment before pushing the final key on her computer that spate out my new ID. But boy, I'm sure I'd have been in trouble had I not brought it.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to my blog.)
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Just Curious...
Hi Jim,
This is slightly off topic, but I was wondering what restrictions are on a CCW. Are you allowed to have any pistol, or is there a restriction on caliber? Also can you keep it in your car or does it have to be on your person? Do you have to have a holster or can you keep it in your waistband or pocket or whatever?
I know this seems silly but I'm curious because up here in Canada, as I'm sure you know, there is no such thing as a CCW. In fact in order to transport your pistol, you have to file a travel plan with the police each and every time BEFORE you go out with it. It must also be always in a locked case and can ONLY be fired at an approved gun/rifle range. Even if you own a farm a 100 km's out of the city you can't discharge a pistol.
The laws vary considerably . . .
Dys,
No worries about the off-topic questions. Since Concealed-Carry is regulated at the state level, things vary considerably across the country. A good resource for specific questions is Handgunlaw.us, and I would suggest that you might want to poke around there in addition to my answers. It *is* incumbent on anyone who wishes to carry a weapon to make sure they are in compliance with the specific laws in a given state/locality.
I live in Missouri, right smack in the middle of the map there on Handgunlaw. If you click on the Missouri map, you'll see that my MO permit is honored by 35 states - but I still have to comply with specific regulations in each jurisdiction. If you would like to see the state law governing concealed-carry, they have a nice .pdf function which will generate the laws for any state. Here in Missouri our restrictions are fairly tight - you have to take an 8 hour class from an accredited instructor (cost runs about $100 - $125 in my area), then pass a state test which demonstrates familiarity with the law and with handguns (both revolver and semi-automatic), and perform adequately with both a revolver and semi-automatic at a range (including shooting each type of handgun with your off-hand). This is why the MO permit is honored in so many other states - it meets or exceeds the standards in those states.
Because of the way the MO permit is structured, it is assumed you are qualified to carry any handgun you can conceal. Therefore I can basically carry anything I want (and do choose between several different guns based on what works best with how I am dressed). In some states, they require you to qualify with (and list on the permit) specific models of handguns. There is no specific requirement that you use a holster in MO, but most people do for both safety and pragmatic purposes - you are responsible for your weapon at all times, and if it discharges you are liable both criminally and civilly.
In addition to the fairly stringent requirements to obtain a CCW (which is what it is called here in MO, in other states it goes by other names - such as a Concealed Handgun License), any person who is at least 23 and can legally own a handgun can keep said handgun (loaded) in their car, and transport it in that condition. Once unloaded, just about anyone who can legally own a handgun (or long gun for that matter) can transport that weapon with minimal concern from the police authorities.
Once again, the owner of the weapon is responsible for the gun - so, for example, I have a small safe in my car for securing my pistol whenever I need to do so (such as when I am going to go someplace where a handgun is restricted by law or sign).
I know that it sounds *really* odd to those outside the US (as it did me some 20 years ago), but this all works remarkably well. The incidence of misuse of a firearm by those who are legally allowed to carry them is very small, much much smaller than the general population, and the experience of the states who have implemented some form of "shall issue" is that it does not lead to any significant increase in violence, and some indication that it actually contributes to a decrease in crime.
I hope this helps explain things.
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Bureaucracy's incredible, isn't it?
That was really odd of her, yeah...but I think I've got you beat in the "running into bureaucracy because of recently tightened identification regulations crap" department, Jim.
I was named after my grandfather (who died before I was born), but never called by that name (it's an "old man" name to my generation). My parents gave me one "official" name and one "actual" name (my middle name), essentially, and in the 70s and 80s and 90s, it just never made much of a difference. The result, though, what with abbreviations, use of initials (middle, but sometimes first - you know, like F. Murray Abraham), middle names, nicknames, and so forth, was that I had different names on my driver's license, passport (the only one that was the same my birth certificate), high school diploma, college degree, social security card, credit cards, bank account...every single one, practically, had a different name. Other than air travel (where I just had to be sure to book the ticket in the name on the ID I was going to show), it never - ever - made a difference until this past year...
For personal and professional reasons, I decided to go through with a legal name change to my professional name (which is yet another entirely different name). Started the procedure in July, and got the judgment in August, which wouldn't be official until 15 September. By coincidence, my license expired 31 August, so I bit the bullet to go renew it (for two weeks) before renewing it again after the name change was finished.
The local Motor Vehicles place is actually brilliant - I've been to the nightmarish ones, but the one I've gone to for the last twelve years is really great: nice people, fast and efficient, excellent system, and I've never had any problems there that weren't solved (usually by them helping me figure out how to game the system!). So I get to the "prelim" phase ("What do you want to do? Here's what you need to get it done...") and the nice lady starts helping me go through my "points" of identification to renew my license. You know the kind of thing: you need at least six points, spread over at least two categories, different forms of ID are worth more or less points.
She (politely) broke the news that I didn't have enough points of ID to renew my license. She was cool about it, but man! I had the "logic" discussion with her, and she agreed, but she wasn't allowed to break any rules - this MV place used to "break the rules" all the time, but since a certain terrorist event, that led to a certain police-ish state, they've been cracked down upon.
It's incredible that the agency that gave me this identification (which has my photo on it!) was unable to accept that it was mine, and simply renew it for me, because all of my ID has varied permutations on that name (permutations which, logically, lead to the conclusion that they're all me - but that's not good enough to a bureaucracy). More incredible was that her advice was to just drive carefully for two weeks...because as it turned out, once I had the court order for the name change, I'd have enough points of ID to get a license. (I'm a big fan of hers at this point - that was a pretty understanding point of view to take, instead of being a jerk about it and ringing the alarm bell on my invalid license.)
I've gone my entire life known by a dozen different names, with ID for each of them, completely above-board if not strictly "legally" (at the very least, by no means for nefarious reasons)...and until the last seven years or so, it was never a problem. If I hadn't been coincidentally changing my name right after my license expired, I would have been unable to renew my license, which I first got nearly twenty years ago, at all. How that makes any sense, I'll never understand.
Fun stuff, huh? Welcome to the police-ish state. Mind the sheep, who won't understand how little sense their assigned orders really make.
In Service or Your Continued Assurance
Your mother would like to see your papers, please.
I die daily.
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