I took the gun safety course in the Fall with my brother and cousins. I actually believe that this course should be required for anyone who wants to purchase a firearm (as should a background check!). I really knew very little about firearms before taking it, and now I know enough so that I can use one and do so safely. This is of paramount importance. Anyway, we went through the course, took the test, went to the range, and then ate some tacos. It was the first time I had ever shot a gun in my life. I actually had a few solid groupings. I shot a Glock and a Ruger. I liked the Glock better. With some practice, I could probably be a pretty good shot. After it was all over, I got my certificate and had what I needed to apply for a pistol permit.
December 16: My local Police Department does fingerprinting on Wednesdays from 3-7 PM. However, the records department there is only open from 8 AM to 3:45 PM. That left me a pretty narrow window to get my fingerprinting done and bring it a few steps over to the records department in the same day. But being close to the end of the year and having a lot of errands to run anyway, I took some time off from work and showed up there at exactly 3 PM. There were a bunch of people in line. There had been recent mass shootings and more liberals talking about how guns are the problem and we need to make laws so that they will be harder for people to get. You know, because criminals and terrorists obey laws. Anyway, the line moved quickly enough and wasn't quite out the door. The guy had some trouble getting good prints, but eventually the computer device he was using said they were good. He handed me the prints and I signed some paperwork and gave him $25. I walked over to the records department, minutes before they were going to close and handed these things to them along with some other paperwork I had to fill out and three more checks. There was a $70 check, a $50 check, and then one for $14.75. I don't even remember what went where. Probably town, state, and background check or something. So I'm up to $159.75 just like that. I have a good job, so no complaints.
Christmas Vacation: At some point during my two-week vacation, I got a voicemail from the police department saying that my fingerprints were unreadable and needed to be redone. Apparently the computer device they were using had failed us. But of course my prints were unreadable! I rock climb once or twice a week (indoors during the cold months). My fingers are a damn mess. I called them back when I got back from vacation. At least they weren't going to charge me to do it again. But this time when I went the line was even longer. It was after work this time. The woman who took my prints said that there were 18 people there for prints that day before me, and 17 were getting them done in order to get their pistol permit. The line had been steady throughout her time there, a far cry from days when she used to get one or two people. I'm willing to bet that more people have gotten their pistol permits (and bought guns for the first time) during the Obama administration than any other two terms in the history of our nation. I brought the prints to the records office on the way to work the next morning.
January went by. February went by. Now it was March. I called the police department and asked when I could expect my permit. They said everything was good on their end, and the background check came back fine, so they had to see what was holding things up with the state. They told me to call back the following week. I did. Someone who needed a copy of my prints apparently hadn't gotten it. They took care of it and said I should have my permit in a week. Sure enough, they called me a week later and said I could come pick it up. So I picked it up on my way to work on Saint Patrick's Day.
Folks who haven't gone through this process here before don't know this, but what the town gives you is a temporary permit that's good for 60 days. If you want a permanent one, you have to bring that to the state DPS along with a $70 check (Hooray, another money grab by the government, bringing that number to $229.75 now!), your license, and a passport or birth certificate. Crap, who carries their passport on them to work? I guess I had to do it another day, and Friday was the day I went out to lunch with the guys at work, so the final step took place just this week...
Monday was too busy. Tuesday was going well, so I figured I could head there during lunch. The DPS in Middletown isn't much more than 10 minutes from where I work. There's a sign in the lot that you can't bring any weapons inside the building. I don't have a... oh... yeah this is considered a weapon here, not a tool. I leave my pocketknife in the car. That wouldn't have gone far anyway. It's airport security when you get in the building.
"Empty your pockets into the bin, take off your belt, walk through here. Nope, you still have something metal."
"Oh. Yup, steel-toed shoes..."
Here let me pet you with this wand.
OK.
The line is longer than I thought it would be. There are 15 people in front of me. At least. One of them is this redneck guy who talks about a time he came and the line was out the door. The door is very far away. A lady in front of me is talking about how she took the day off to come here. I'm last in line. A guy with a mustache comes up behind me and looks at the line.
"Not today I guess."
He walks away. Eventually, there are a lot more people forming a line behind me than there are in front of me.
There's another form to fill out. They were nice enough to leave a small platform with some pens in the line next to the forms. Lots of repetitive forms. Oh well. It will pass the time. After that's done, I check some things on my phone. I send a few texts, look at some things on ebay, swipe through some pictures on Tinder... Hmmm... I usually take a half hour lunch, except on Fridays, but it's Tuesday. Actually, I usually work through lunch. And now it's almost 1 already, and I left work at noon. I text my buddy at work who sits next to me and tell him if anyone is looking for me to tell them where I am. Eventually I get to the window. Two people are running the whole operation. One is complaining that she's having computer problems. They seem pleasant though. They take my paperwork, take my photograph, and hand me my pistol permit. Finally, a little more than three months later! And the picture even came out alright. It's a shame I'll have to get a new one in five years when I renew it (yes, they'll charge $70 for that too, probably more by then).
I get back to work by 1:30. An hour and half lunch and I hadn't eaten. I'm kind of hungry. I warm up some chicken in the microwave and work while I eat. No one was looking for me while I was gone. My phone rings. My boss had a question. I realize that I'm blessed to have a job where I don't have to punch a clock and can come and go as needed. I've earned trust, and they trust me because I do more than what's required of me, and while I don't get paid for overtime, there aren't very many weeks where I only work 40 hours. I don't have to worry about getting fired for taking an hour and a half lunch break to get a pistol permit. Some people do. Some people can't do that, or they have to take a day off in order to do that. And they can't afford the $230 to the government to claim this right (plus the cost of the safety course and the range fees--oh, yeah, and the gun).
Sometimes legal gun owners commit crimes, but I can't imagine someone going through these things, standing in the lines, paying the fees, filling out the paperwork, who plans to get a permit to buy a gun with which to commit crimes. I imagine most of the time, those folks just obtain guns illegally, and, because the government isn't involved, it's cheaper and it happens more quickly. Now I have to decide on a gun... The one I choose costs $480. My brother tells me it's a great deal. I write out that check. It's currently out of stock but coming in soon, and also, I have to special order it with a magazine that holds less rounds because it normally comes with a 15-round capacity magazine which is now, for no reason based in reality, illegal for me to have here in the great state of Connecticut. Oh well. Other than when I go to the range, I don't think I'll carry very often anyway. But then, it's always better to have it and not need it, especially when a portion of society and the government don't want me to have it. My quest to claim my Second Amendment right is nearly complete!
