Some of the following was posted in another forum on this site, but it should probably go here instead/also: I applied for my Firearms License on Friday Feb 17th in Forsyth County, and my fingerprints were electronically scanned. The court secretary said it will take about 8 weeks to get my permit. I shook hands with the Probate Judge while I was there and he said it was the same timeframe. When I walked over to the ordinance office for the fingerprint scan, they said 4 months! BTW, the application experience was positive. The Probate court folks and the Judge were polite (and of course I was, too). The ordinance office folks were polite and professional as well. However, I'm not very confident about the rest of the process. Updates following as things develop (or not).
AV8R (great user id and avatar, by the way), I thought you might want to see somebody else's experience in Forsyth County. It is located here: http://www.georgiapacking.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=242
Thanks... I've read that thread a few days ago. I'm expecting the same thing as well. I think the trick is to be nice, polite, yet firm and well-informed. I qualify in every way for a GFL. The very fact that I am polite demonstrates my good moral character (IMHO). Time will tell... and it's marked on my calendar!
Probably won't help I live in Forsyth and it took about 3 1/2 months to get mine. I started calling on day 91 and I don't think it helped. I agree that they were very good about the process.
Good question That's a good question on the 90 day focus. Why should we only become irritated after the government has violated the law by a month? Total aside and probably best posted as a new thread: we should begin to noodle and plan now for this year's election season and next year's legislative season to get this public gatherings law fixed. I'd love to be like Alabama and others, but that is probably not realistic. Perhaps we can at least get rid of the ambiguity for an enumerated list.
I realize that about Alabama. I was speaking about the carry at all places other than a political demonstration. I'm less concerned about GA's permitting process, which is slow but works, and more about the restrictions on locations, which doesn't really work.
Schools = licensees exempt. Section 13A-11-72 Premises of a public school. The term "public school" as used in this section applies only to a school composed of grades K-12 and shall include a school bus used for grades K-12 (c) Subject to the exceptions provided by Section 13A-11-74, no person shall knowingly with intent to do bodily harm carry or possess a deadly weapon on the premises of a public school. (d) Possession of a deadly weapon with the intent to do bodily harm on the premises of a public school in violation of subsection (c) of this section is a Class C felony. (e) Law enforcement officers are exempt from this section, and persons with pistol permits issued pursuant to Section 13A-11-75, are exempt from the provisions of subsection (c) of this section. Demonstrations: Section 13A-11-59 (b) It shall be unlawful for any person, other than a law enforcement officer, to have in his or her possession or on his or her person or in any vehicle any firearm while participating in or attending any demonstration being held at a public place. Section 13A-11-59 (c) It shall be unlawful for any person, other than a law enforcement officer as defined in subsection (a) of this section, to have in his or her possession or about his or her person or in any vehicle at a point within 1,000 feet of a demonstration at a public place, any firearm after having first been advised by a law enforcement officer that a demonstration was taking place at a public place and after having been ordered by such officer to remove himself or herself from the prescribed area until such time as he or she no longer was in possession of any firearm.
Is that really it? One can carry into the State Capitol Building? Courthouses? Jails? Airports? Bus stations? Bars? Churches? Cool!
See what I mean? See what I mean about AL? It is cool. The point to be taken is that life goes on in that state without all the hysterical predicted outcomes. I would like to fix the GA problem, but something that good is probably not achievable.
I sent an email over the weekend to the Forsyth County Probate court inquiring about my GFL. I received a quick reply: Your application has not completed the backgound check. As soon as we get the report, we will process immediately. There is a backlog at the crime center on which they are working deligently to clear out. Please let us know if we can be of any further help to you. ***** *********** Clerk, Probate Court 770-781-2140 ext **** That sucks. My finger prints were electronically scanned and I thought that was a much faster process... Compared to what, I don't know.
2 things, There are some counties that scan digitally then print out a card to send in to GCIC. The way some counties read the law is that the prints should be sent using hard copies. It is easier to rescan 1 bad fingerprint and print out on hard cards, than re-ink and re-print all ten fingers because of one finger's smudge. Note that included with HB 1032 that requires the same GCIC bg check as a first time app, is a part to allow prints to be electronically sent (max 48 hours to process). Also, the GCIC "backlog" pretty much covers any prints that are not processed within 24 hours of the GCIC receiving them. Since it takes them an average of 15 days to process hard cards, EVERY hard card sent to the GCIC is in a backlog. It does not mean that it has taken the GCIC over 30 days (the longest time to process hard cards last year) to process the hard card.
why Fingerprint at all? Why do they need to have fingerprints at all? Is it part of the Georgia statute (16-11-129) that the background check be done with a freshly-made set of fingerprints? If I were setting the standards for a background check, I would simply make the person show a photo I.D. or some other items of identification to prove WHO that person is (not just taking their word for it), and then I'd run a CRIMINAL HISTORY CHECK on that person using just their name, date of birth, gender, and race. I would only ask for their SSN if more than one name came up as a match for all those other criteria. That would be good enough for me. What do y'all think?
Now that the blame is placed with a somewhat faceless entity, what now? Are they just full of bowel squeeze?
Re: why Fingerprint at all? You knew the answer to that! But for others . . . O.C.G.A. 16-11-129(c) requires them. (c) Fingerprinting. (1) Following completion of the application, the judge of the probate court shall require the applicant to proceed to an appropriate law enforcement agency in the county with the completed application. The appropriate local law enforcement agency in each county shall then make two sets of classifiable fingerprints of the applicant for a license to carry a pistol or revolver, place the fingerprint required by subsection (f) of this Code section on a blank license form which has been furnished to the law enforcement agency by the judge of the probate court, and place the name of the applicant on the blank license form. The law enforcement agency shall be entitled to a fee of $5.00 from the applicant for its services in connection with the application. (2) In the case of each applicant who is applying for a license under this Code section for the first time, the judge of the probate court shall direct the law enforcement agency to transmit one set of the applicant´s fingerprints to the Georgia Crime Information Center for a search of the Federal Bureau of Investigation records and an appropriate report. In such cases, the applicant shall submit an additional fee in an amount established by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation but not to exceed $30.00 for a search of records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and an appropriate report, payable in such form as the judge may direct, to cover the cost of the records search.
Re: why Fingerprint at all? Gunsmoker, that sounds good. In fact, I think that's what the statute contemplates.