Sign-ups start for concealed gun permits

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Confusion reigned Friday as sheriffs across Missouri struggled with when, whether and how to begin taking concealed gun applications from residents following a complex ruling by the state's highest court.

Several rural sheriffs began signing people up for conceal-carry permits Friday, just one day after the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the legislature's right to legalize concealed guns.

But many others -- in rural and urban areas alike -- took a more cautious approach while legal analysts dissected a second part of the ruling, which said the law could amount to an unconstitutional, unfunded mandate on counties.

The Supreme Court said just four -- Cape Girardeau, Camden, Greene and Jackson -- of Missouri's 114 counties did not have to implement the law. At trial, testimony on the cost of implementing conceal carry was presented for those four counties.

Still, the court's ruling left a clear path for similar cost claims to be raised elsewhere.

The Missouri Sheriffs' Association, in a letter sent late Friday afternoon to its members, said sheriffs "should begin to prepare to accept applications." But the group suggested it would take several days, at best, for sheriffs to calculate the appropriate fees to charge applicants as a result of the court ruling.

Some sheriffs forged ahead anyway, taking applicants from the moment their offices opened.

The law went into effect, said Carroll County Sheriff Joe Arnold, who acted after getting advice from his local prosecutor. "We're fingerprinting them and everything, just like it's supposed to be done."

In Lincoln County, records clerks put aside many of their normal document filing duties to handle first-day concealed gun applicants. By mid-afternoon, said clerk Kris Westhoff, 14 people had presented proof of passing firearms training courses, provided fingerprints for background checks and paid a $100 fee to the sheriff's office.

Sheriffs have up to 45 days to process concealed gun applications.

The law requires them to charge a fee of up to $100 to be deposited into a local fund, which can be spent only on law enforcement equipment and training.

The Supreme Court, citing arguments from gun opponents who challenged the law, said that could prevent sheriffs from using the fees to pay for the background checks or the personnel handling the applications -- thus imposing an unconstitutional new duty for which counties were not receiving reimbursement.

The Sheriffs' Association suggested Friday that sheriffs should charge only the amount needed to cover the estimated costs of equipment and training. Anything above that could be challenged as excessive under the court's decision.

Yet because the reduced fee is not likely to cover the full processing costs, that too could be challenged in court as an unfunded mandate, the sheriffs' group said.

For now, sheriffs must find another source of funding -- other than the applicant fee -- to pay the $38 fingerprinting and background check charge to the state and FBI, the letter said.

Meanwhile, some residents of counties where sheriffs were not yet issuing permits began looking for other ways to get a concealed gun license. Missouri's law requires residents to get permits from their home counties, but also recognizes permits issued by other states. Florida and Pennsylvania both issue concealed gun permits to nonresidents.

Gun enthusiast Mark Hughes of Columbia, who is the state Senate's communications director, paid a $20 fee and sent in an application Friday to a sheriff in Pennsylvania -- figuring he might get a permit faster that way than through Boone County.

"I've worked on this for 13 years," Hughes said. "The legislature has passed it, they've overridden a veto of the governor, the Supreme Court has upheld it. ... This will at last give me the right to carry a concealed handgun to protect myself and my family."