Archive for Monday, January 14, 2008

The paperwork target

County’s application process cumbersome

Stephen Dickey, of Lawrence, fires a round out of his Browning .22 handgun Wednesday Jan. 9, 2008 at the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department’s Community Building, 115 W. 11th St.

Stephen Dickey, of Lawrence, fires a round out of his Browning .22 handgun Wednesday Jan. 9, 2008 at the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department’s Community Building, 115 W. 11th St.

January 14, 2008

Editor’s note: This is the third in an occasional series of stories detailing the process of obtaining a Kansas concealed carry permit. Staff reporter Chad Lawhorn is going through the process to better explain it.

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This has been the hardest part.

Buying a handgun was odd, but it wasn’t particularly hard. Taking a shooting test to qualify for a concealed handgun permit was a bit nerve-wracking, but at the end of the day it wasn’t anything to lose sleep over.

But the paperwork — it’s always the paperwork that gets you.

After passing the shooting and safety test in early August, I had taken a major step in the process of obtaining a Kansas permit allowing me to carry a concealed handgun. All I had to do was take my certificate to the Douglas County Sheriff’s office, improve the state’s finances by paying the $150 in fees, and then wait for the Attorney General’s office to do the necessary background checks on me.

What I didn’t know was that I still had one more target to hit. It was a target of time. The Douglas County Sheriff’s office only accepts concealed carry applications from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Mondays.

Evidently, in Douglas County, the early bird gets the gun.

Not that 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. is an ungodly time, but it is a time period that puts a premium on planning. That’s because turning in your application involves a little more than just dropping by the Sheriff’s office.

First of all, you don’t go to the Sheriff’s office. You go to the Douglas County Jail. When you get there, you need to have more than your application form — which is a list of questions about whether you’ve been convicted of certain crimes, had certain mental health problems and inquires into your occupation and past. You also need a 2-inch by 2-inch photo of yourself, your certificate showing you’ve passed the state-mandated concealed carry class, and $150 in fees.

In some ways, the money is one of the trickier parts of the equation. State law requires that the fee be paid either by money order or cashier’s check. And don’t think one check will suffice. One must be for $110 to the Office of the Attorney General, and another must be $40 to the Sheriff’s office.

So, deciding at the last-minute on a Monday morning that you’re going to turn in your application can make for a hectic Monday. But it can be done. It was done on Dec. 31. That’s when I made my visit to the Douglas County Jail.

I had intended to do it much earlier. I could have applied any time after mid-August, when I received the certificate in the mail proving that I had passed the necessary course. But for a few weeks, I really wasn’t that interested. I just wanted to take a break. I had just had a photo of myself pointing a handgun on the front page of the Journal-World. In case you’re wondering, that’s a real conversation starter. Lots of folks look at you a little differently after that.

Meanwhile, my wife’s patience ran a little thin. (And that’s so unusual.) In short, we’ve agreed that this process is a topic we don’t talk about.

But I didn’t intend on taking this long of a break. Many times I simply got my Monday morning started and remembered too late in the day to do anything about it. I thought about asking my wife to remind me, but then I decided I liked my warm bed better than a hard couch.

One time I printed out the application forms — available at the attorney general’s Web site — several days in advance. I was going to get this done. Then, of course, I lost the forms on my desk. Other days there were kids to take to baby-sitters, meetings to attend at work, and all the other usual stuff that goes on from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on a Monday.

When I finally did get to the jail, it was a pleasant process. A sergeant takes your forms, takes your money and very professionally takes your fingerprints. It took about 15 minutes.

For me, the fact that it had taken this long to get my application turned in wasn’t any big deal. But the limited hours of the Douglas County Sheriff’s office have drawn concerns from others.

“There have been a number of people who have called us about that,” said Chuck Sexson, director of the concealed carry program in the Kansas Attorney General’s office.

He said his office tries to encourage sheriff’s offices to keep the most convenient hours possible, but he said state law leaves that decision up to each individual sheriff.

Douglas County’s hours are unique among area counties. Shawnee, Johnson and Wyandotte counties all accept applications during the bulk of every weekday. Sexson said that’s how he believed it worked for most sheriff’s departments across the state.

Lt. Kari Wempe, a spokeswoman with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, said the Douglas County hours simply were a result of the department trying to add a new responsibility onto its staff without adding new personnel. The same sergeant generally handles all the applications, and they don’t want him tied to his desk all day.

“We thought this would be one of the better times,” Wempe said. “It gives people the ability to come in before work, if they need to.”

Wempe said the hours were not a sign that the department had anything against the law.

“It has absolutely nothing to do with that,” Wempe said. “It is the law, and this is just how we’re managing the extra workload.”

And who knows — Wempe didn’t say this — but maybe it is just an extra test. If you can’t figure out how to get to the Douglas County Jail on a Monday morning with a few documents, maybe you shouldn’t be carrying a gun around.

Yeah, I’m not sure what that says about me either.