LTC in Warwick - question to those who know

The chief does not issue permits in Warwick. The commissioners board does.

Town permits are valid statewide, why would a cop know you are carrying? Why volunteer such information?

Warwick for the most part follows the law.

A Warwick permit will exempt you from the waiting period and allow for private sales without any paperwork.

A town permit is for concealed carry only.

The AG permit allows for concealed or open carry.

The AG's office will want to see a good reason for wanting a permit.

Or you can get both. But do the AG permit first. If you apply for the AG permit they will deny you and you will have to go to an appeal. You will sit in an office and the two BCI detectives (Chief and Vice-Chief) will be very pleasant and friendly but grill you on why you need it. Unless you fear being murdered (legitimately) they will give you a restricted target permit. This is where it is useful to have a restraining order out against someone- just kidding. This restriction has no force of law and they know it, but it is a way to discourage you from using the permit. And if they do outright deny you after appeal, you may sue them and they do not want that. In RI, no permit is necessary to carry a gun in your trunk to a target range. If they find out you have a Town permit, they will deny you completely and tell you it's duplication and the one you have is already better than the one they could give you. So get the AG first, then get the Town permit.

But don't EVER open carry. The AG's open carry provision is intended for armed car guards and security guards. If you walk around Warwick or Providence with a sidearm and no uniform, the cops will be showing up... They'll have to let you go (assuming they decide not to charge you with disturbing the peace) but it will not be a fun experience for you.

Warwick would like you to apply with the AG so they can deny you. Warwick does not have this discretion, and from what I understand they are pretty good with issuing permits if you meet the requirements in 11-47-11. However, they do charge an "application fee" of $160 on top of the permit fee because they think they can. I am not sure of what the (legal) reasoning for the licensing authority is to charge this fee for them to do their adminstrative duties as required by State Law... However, Chairwoman Boxter thinks she is above the law and can do whatever she would like to... Her attitude is that if you don't like the fee, you can apply somewhere else (7-12-2011 meeting)...

Unless there is a specific reason why you need an AG permit, such as for Open Carry or if you go to TX who only recognizes the AG permit, I would recommend the Town Permit. They are less likely to give you a restricted permit, and you don't have a 7 day wait when purchasing a firearm. Even though there is no legality to a restriction in RI in my opinion (there is no case law on this), you could still get in trouble if you are arrested and it could cost you a lot of money on lawyer fees, especially if you are in a reciprocity state.

Originally Posted by Swamp_Yankee

This is where it is useful to have a restraining order out against someone- just kidding.

Does having an RO against someone make a difference for the AG? I ask this as I was thinking of applying for a non-resident permit in RI, and I do have a restraining order against someone.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by waltherlover

Does having an RO against someone make a difference for the AG? I ask this as I was thinking of applying for a non-resident permit in RI, and I do have a restraining order against someone.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks.

The AG in RI has the full discretion to issue/deny permits, but I would think that a RO would help. Since you live out of State other things such as where the person whom you have a RO against lives as well as what your ties to RI is will also be taken into account.

The AG is all about "need". They feel that the only people that should be allowed to carry concealed are those that can demonstrate a legitimate need. While self defense is a need, they are all a bunch of block-heads at the AG's office and seem to think that bad things never happen to people that don't deserve it. And I believe that they think the possession of a firearm by any "untrained" citizens increases the risk of bad things happening- nevermind how firearms illiterate most cops are.

So I suspect that if you came into the AG's office and could demonstrate that someone has repeatedly attacked or stalked you and you actually feared for your life, they would give you a permit. But just because you have a restraining order is probably not enough. If the person is obeying the restraining order, the AG has no reason to believe it is not working (because of course, a person who needs to have an RO placed on them is obviously level headed enough to obey it.....). If they have repeatedly broken the RO and you can convince the AG the person is a nut, you may have a case. I cannot point to a specific example but in the past 4 years of reading posts on RI CCW and talking to people, I have been told that this approach has been used successfully. But they cops are not dumb (or at least easily fooled on this issue) and it has to be a convincing case.

If you ran a business and had been repeatedly mugged on the street and your earnings robbed on your way to the bank, you'd probably also have a legitimate case. "Legitimate" to the AG, that is.

Originally Posted by Swamp_Yankee

But don't EVER open carry. The AG's open carry provision is intended for armed car guards and security guards. If you walk around Warwick or Providence with a sidearm and no uniform, the cops will be showing up... They'll have to let you go (assuming they decide not to charge you with disturbing the peace) but it will not be a fun experience for you.

The AG's open carry provision was written in 1950 when 11-47-18 was passed (originally 11-47-13) and isn't intended for any class of people, it is simply a carry license, like Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Tennessee, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Oklahoma (starting in november).

That would be a lawsuit waiting to happen if you were arrested for open carrying in Rhode Island on an AG permit. It's not like other states where the law is silent, it CLEARLY says you can open carry.