Well, I can still shoot straight… at 5 ft and 10 ft.
Not too challenging. I had to renew my CCL. $60 online and $40 at the range. $100 for five years.
Their biggest concern is verifying gun safety procedures and that someone knows how to load a clip, rack it, safety off and fire. Not shooting the range officer is a bonus.
You can qualify with a revolver. But then you get a restricted license. The instructors strongly recommend qualifying with a semiautomatic. They’ll provide one if needed. I used my .22 Ruger target pistol.
Actually, I’m glad the test is easy. It’s been fifteen years since I went to the range regularly.
I could have hit the center ring back then at these distances. Now, I’m satisfied to see holes in the paper.
A 5 Hour class is required and a shooting test to get a CCL for the first time. Total cost is about $250.
This is Arkansas. What’s your states procedure for obtaining or renewing a CCL?
In PA I just needed two references. I filled out a form and sent it in. My two references were cops. I got my permit in the mail in about ten days. I forget the cost, $20? maybe $25.
When I received the renewal notice I decided not to renew.
That seems like an odd requirement. I’m not doubting it…I’m just surprised. A lot of firearms instructors like to remind you that most shootings occur at about 7 yards. I’ve been practicing yelling at my attackers to move forward or back up.
I have much more shooting experience than most of the people in my class five years ago. Several people had never fired a weapon before. They had to be taught all the basics. Getting them past their fear of guns isn’t easy. One lady squealed every time she pulled the trigger.
I started shooting .22 rifles at age 9. Always supervised by my uncle. Got my first .410 pump when I was 14, for squirrel hunting. I deer hunted every season until I turn 40. Took Hunter Safety.
Ive had periods where target shooting was a weekly activity. It’s not as big a priority in middle age. I need to starting going to the range every month or so.
I’m still cracking up over the use of the word “clip”. But nomenclature isn’t really an issue with getting/retaining a CCL.
I got mine here in IL, $500 worth of fees and required class, a four month wait, and I’m good to go… and never ever bother to take it out of the range bag, what a waste of money! Definitely won’t renew when the time comes.
In Oregon you have to take a ‘class’ and then apply to your county sheriff’s office for the actual permit.
As I recall, we had 2 or 3 hours of instruction, lectures (mostly on law) and demonstrations, then a written test, that was pretty easy. Then we had to demonstrate proficiency on the range. IIRC, I fired 50 rounds at distances between 50 feet and 15 feet, strong hand, weak hand, standing, kneeling behind a barrier, aimed and point shooting.
The whole thing took most of a day.
Licenses here are for 4 years. I’m due to renew for the second time next month. I’ll just need to go down to the Sheriffs office with my checkbook and my current license.
I used to go to the range once or twice a month but I haven’t been to the range much lately either, but I’m having my cataracts out next month, and then I’ll start back.
One odd rule. Range Officer insisted on no head shots. Had to aim at center mass.
I intended to do that anyway.
I guess some show offs went for head shots. It certainly increases the risk of failing the qualification test or missing a bad guy in real life situations.
This, absolutely. In a real-life defensive situation, you WILL be stressed, and your cognition and motor skills will deteriorate significantly. If your muscles remember the best practices, you will still score hits on your assailant. Headshots are hard, Hard+Stress==Fail.
In Georgia the process is fill out an application at the Probate Court, pay the fee, go to the Sherriff’s office for fingerprinting, pay the fee, get a 5 year license. The fees vary slightly by county, but are generally about $75
In the civilian world, I am much more at ease with an buddy who does not practice all that much but thinks good, checks background, etc…
Been around the dead eye dick Rambo who never miss and know they are good because many of them kill them all in 2 seconds flat. To bad 30% of the dead are good folks who should not have been shot in the first place. Practice is good if it is good practice but if it is bad habit practice, I don’t care how quick & straight you can get into action and start shooting, soon or later they will shoot wrong way more often than a good thinking shooter who practices good thinking and has less shooting skill.
YMMV
I just went with a friend. He renewed, I did it for the first time. He only had to go for the first 4 of 8 hours. It also qualified me for UT, NH (I think it was), and OR. Only OR is not multi-state. I’ll probably do UT, won’t bother with NH, and may try OR but it’s not a huge priority (need to go in person, and like CA some counties are effectively no-issue, at least to non-residents).
I think it went:
6 shots at 7 feet
12 shots at ? feet (closer to 21 than 7)
12 shots at 21 feet
Can carry any firearm, 5 years ago semi and revolver were separate.
Move to a rural county. Don’t know how accurate this map is, but here Alameda seems suspect.
Thank you for this. Yes I could move to a rural county. Or according to this link I could move to Disneyland (okay, Orange County) and get one issued. Still, there’s good info there, thanks again.
Yeah I know, “could” is only worth so much. Pretty glad I left CA though, not for that reason but it helps.
Wasn’t a question though, I know OR doesn’t share. I have family up there so it’s a possibility though I didn’t intentionally seek out an Oregon instructor. He recommended Klamath County, FYI. The two counties I would visit most don’t do nonresident.
Process in PR: royal PITA including $hundreds in fees, mandatory affiliation to a gun club, training, licensing, registration of the specific firearm (and each carry permit is for up to two specifically registered firearms) and not just a background check but an honest to goodness investigation by the commonwealth police including interviewing your neighbors. No open carry.
Texas was fairly basic, and has gotten even easier since I applied in 2014. (At least, I think it was 2014?)
Fill out online application, make appointment to get fingerprinted, take (IIRC) 8 hour class, although four hours of classroom lecture rings a bell. Just enough to cover the laws on where you can and can’t carry. It also covered when one can and can’t use deadly force, though that’s really a subject you could easily burn an entire weekend seminar discussing.
(EDIT: Oh, and pay $140 to the state. IIRC something like an additional $100 or so to the gun range for the class/ammo/range time. Not cheap, though better than the rigamarole I’ve read about earlier in this thread. Multiple references and hundreds/thousands of USD in fees? Nuts.)
We also did the shooting requirement on the same day. Shoot 50 timed shots anywhere from 3 to 15 yards. 70% passes. Most in our class passed the first time.
IIRC, targets are a standard NRA B-27 silhouette, which is a 50 yard target according to the above link. It is possible to gain enough points in the 3 and 7 yard portions of the test to pass, even without shooting the 15 yards portion, and I found it not difficult to achieve a max possible score. Minimum of a 32 caliber pistol.
All that said, I don’t think the above class and certification is necessary for one to exercise this Constitutional right—I’ve no problem with “Constitutional Carry”—yet it is, IMHO, insufficient to consider yourself adequately prepared for a potential encounter where you might have to use lethal force.
