Getting a CWP in Florida...

caboose84

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Just so you know, Mass isn't the only place with sucky license delay issues.

Had lived in NH, had my license for years. Less than two week turn around, easy peasy.

Moved to Colorado, only hassle in getting a license was I had to take a safety class and then get finger printed, which they did a few days a week at the county jail. But license turnaround was about two weeks once we had the fingerprints done, and that was over the holidays. Renewal was quicker, no fingerprints

Recently moved to Florida, the local agriculture office processes permits. Have to call a central number to make an appointment. Got an appointment today after waiting on hold for 25 minutes- they can see me on April 14th!!! Suggested I try my county tax collectors office- they are scheduling appointments now for the first week of March, but I have to call back on Friday to make an appointment.

Once you fill out the application, they have up to 90 days to issue- apparently it's been running 50 to 60 days to get the permit.

So much for gun friendly places....
 
Pretty much any jurisdiction that issues carry permits is prone to delay issues, especially at times like now.

For example, I considered moving to Georgia a few years ago and quite a few counties had reputations for being slow to issue. They had to be "persuaded" by writ of mandamus to comply with the statutory timeliness requirement. It was usually urban counties where one would expect a lot of institutional gun control and also very remote places where one would either expect institutional corruption, short staffing, or both.

Any carry permit system is prone to failure and abuse. Constitutional carry removes the need for permits, recognizes the natural law right to self-defense, and is really the best answer to all these problems.
 
Pretty much any jurisdiction that issues carry permits is prone to delay issues, especially at times like now.

For example, I considered moving to Georgia a few years ago and quite a few counties had reputations for being slow to issue. They had to be "persuaded" by writ of mandamus to comply with the statutory timeliness requirement. It was usually urban counties where one would expect a lot of institutional gun control and also very remote places where one would either expect institutional corruption, short staffing, or both.

Any carry permit system is prone to failure and abuse. Constitutional carry removes the need for permits, recognizes the natural law right to self-defense, and is really the best answer to all these problems.


georgiapacking.org is a pretty good resource regarding licensing and laws. Not as much traffic as NES, but not bad.


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Just so you know, Mass isn't the only place with sucky license delay issues.

Had lived in NH, had my license for years. Less than two week turn around, easy peasy.

Moved to Colorado, only hassle in getting a license was I had to take a safety class and then get finger printed, which they did a few days a week at the county jail. But license turnaround was about two weeks once we had the fingerprints done, and that was over the holidays. Renewal was quicker, no fingerprints

Recently moved to Florida, the local agriculture office processes permits. Have to call a central number to make an appointment. Got an appointment today after waiting on hold for 25 minutes- they can see me on April 14th!!! Suggested I try my county tax collectors office- they are scheduling appointments now for the first week of March, but I have to call back on Friday to make an appointment.

Once you fill out the application, they have up to 90 days to issue- apparently it's been running 50 to 60 days to get the permit.

So much for gun friendly places....
FL can be a PIA. I'm in MA and couldn't even renew my FL CWP, as they won't renew without fresh prints done by LEOs, and nearly impossible to find a PD willing to print cuz WuFlu. Conway, NH PD said they would do them, then we ended up needing to cancel our December trip.
 
georgiapacking.org is a pretty good resource regarding licensing and laws. Not as much traffic as NES, but not bad.

They have/had a list of people who applied in each county and the applicants could leave details such as time, any f-ckery, "service quality", building/directions info, etc.

But still, constitutional carry is ideal.
 
FL can be a PIA. I'm in MA and couldn't even renew my FL CWP, as they won't renew without fresh prints done by LEOs, and nearly impossible to find a PD willing to print cuz WuFlu. Conway, NH PD said they would do them, then we ended up needing to cancel our December trip.

My wife and I recently renewed our Florida CWPs. As you said, they required fresh prints. I asked our local PD and they gave me the names of two departments in the area that would do our prints. Went to one and it was weird, lady on the door taking temperature of visitors, masks and signing of waiver required. But - we did get our prints taken ON THE FLORIDA FORMS. Yeah, that's important, that's why it's capitalized.

Sent the prints, application, photos in and got our renewed permits back in pretty short order.

It was actually pretty painless other than the out of town trip to get the prints taken. I had worried that our renewal forms wouldn't come to us, or that they wouldn't process them in a timely fashion - both worries turned out to be groundless. Our new permits were in hand before the old ones expired.
 
I recently got my non-resident Florida CWP and the online system is nice, but what a nightmare for the actual processing. About 15 days after I submitted my online application and mailed my fingerprints (along with a check for the processing fee), they changed my application status to incomplete saying that my fingerprints were never received. Knowing I sent my fingerprints with a check, I took a look into my bank account and sure enough the check had been deposited a few days earlier. Everything eventually got sorted out, but it took a month longer than their stated 90 day turnaround. My theory is that they may have had too many applications to process, so they stopped the 90 day clock by telling applicants their applications were incomplete. I think the worst part of the entire process for me was waiting countless hours in their live chat queue just to get the same answer of "I'm not sure what happened, but it should be done soon".
 
Just so you know, Mass isn't the only place with sucky license delay issues.

Had lived in NH, had my license for years. Less than two week turn around, easy peasy.

Moved to Colorado, only hassle in getting a license was I had to take a safety class and then get finger printed, which they did a few days a week at the county jail. But license turnaround was about two weeks once we had the fingerprints done, and that was over the holidays. Renewal was quicker, no fingerprints

Recently moved to Florida, the local agriculture office processes permits. Have to call a central number to make an appointment. Got an appointment today after waiting on hold for 25 minutes- they can see me on April 14th!!! Suggested I try my county tax collectors office- they are scheduling appointments now for the first week of March, but I have to call back on Friday to make an appointment.

Once you fill out the application, they have up to 90 days to issue- apparently it's been running 50 to 60 days to get the permit.

So much for gun friendly places....
If there's an issue now, it's either Covid or because you live in MA. Got mine a couple of years ago. Stopped in at a County office while down there for a family funeral (hey, priorities, ya know). Filled it out, got printed in the office, etc. in about 1/2 hour. Used an NRA certificate for training, but through in my DD-214 from Army Basic Training for the Guard. Two weeks later, permit in the mailbox. About $119 including CC surcharge.
 
If there's an issue now, it's either Covid or because you live in MA. Got mine a couple of years ago. Stopped in at a County office while down there for a family funeral (hey, priorities, ya know). Filled it out, got printed in the office, etc. in about 1/2 hour. Used an NRA certificate for training, but through in my DD-214 from Army Basic Training for the Guard. Two weeks later, permit in the mailbox. About $119 including CC surcharge.
Never lived in Mass. RI > NH > Colorado > Florida.

Most counties are only providing services to residents of the county.

My county (and all the state offices) currently require appointments for CWP processing.

Nearest state office made an appointment for April 14th. My county said they'll do an appointment in the first week of March, but I have to call on Friday to schedule. :confused:
 
I recently got my non-resident Florida CWP and the online system is nice, but what a nightmare for the actual processing. About 15 days after I submitted my online application and mailed my fingerprints (along with a check for the processing fee), they changed my application status to incomplete saying that my fingerprints were never received. Knowing I sent my fingerprints with a check, I took a look into my bank account and sure enough the check had been deposited a few days earlier. Everything eventually got sorted out, but it took a month longer than their stated 90 day turnaround. My theory is that they may have had too many applications to process, so they stopped the 90 day clock by telling applicants their applications were incomplete. I think the worst part of the entire process for me was waiting countless hours in their live chat queue just to get the same answer of "I'm not sure what happened, but it should be done soon".
Where did you get your prints done by an LEO? I was going to get mine done in Conway, NH but they've stopped doing them cuz WuFlu.
 
Where did you get your prints done by an LEO? I was going to get mine done in Conway, NH but they've stopped doing them cuz WuFlu.
I called a few local police stations to see if any of them would do fingerprints. The first one I called was Amherst MA and they told me I was most likely out of luck. Same situation with Pelham PD. I decided to keep trying and the third place I called was Hadley MA PD. They were very nice and let me set an appointment time to get my prints done. Not sure where you are located, but if it is a feasible drive try giving Hadley a call, otherwise try calling a bunch of stations in your area.
 
I'm in this same boat. Most PDs will do it if you're a resident, but of course Worcester doesn't have fingerprinting services. I guess I'll give Hadley a call
 
Update- my license was issued today, now I have to allow for up to 15 days for it to be printed/mailed.

So timeline is call for appointment January 6th.

Go in and fill out the application on April 14th, get fingerprints and photo take.

License issued June 21 (67 days).

Wait for mail ???

The Ag commissioner is the only statewide elected democrat. Coincidence- not likely.
 
Update- my license was issued today, now I have to allow for up to 15 days for it to be printed/mailed.

So timeline is call for appointment January 6th.

Go in and fill out the application on April 14th, get fingerprints and photo take.

License issued June 21 (67 days).

Wait for mail ???

The Ag commissioner is the only statewide elected democrat. Coincidence- not likely.
How long did it take you to get it in your mailbox after your issue date?
 
If you can, just get it in FL. I finally did my renewal at a county tax collectors office. Quick and easy...I was in and out in about 15 minutes. No appointment needed, at least not in that county.
 
I applied for mine in June 2021 and If I remember correctly it was well over 2 months to get it in the mail post fingerprints and bullshit at the local Department of Agriculture which was anything but local.

Was MA'ish. FL might be shit canning these useless licenses which would be nice.
 
I applied for mine in June 2021 and If I remember correctly it was well over 2 months to get it in the mail post fingerprints and bullshit at the local Department of Agriculture which was anything but local.

Was MA'ish. FL might be shit canning these useless licenses which would be nice.
I received in the mail this morning! Took about a week.
 
I got my CWP in Florida in 2008 and it was taking around 6 months back then.
Had to submit fingerprints and take a 4 hour gun safety class that I found out, since I was a veteran, I didn't need the class. I found out when I showed up so I stayed for it anyways.
 
I got my CWP in Florida in 2008 and it was taking around 6 months back then.
Had to submit fingerprints and take a 4 hour gun safety class that I found out, since I was a veteran, I didn't need the class. I found out when I showed up so I stayed for it anyways.
Yeah the DD214 exemption is probably the only "good" part of the entire thing.

But then again a DD214 doesn't exactly equal firearms proficiency haha
 
Whats the process like for North Carolina? I know I can read a website.
I would like to know if anyone has been through it. NON resident or resident. Yes, I know thread drift

Well looking here.
Effective December 1, 2011, North Carolina automatically recognizes concealed carry permits issued in any other state
 
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