Good CCW news from Orange County, California: Bill Hunt promises shall-issue

[ElTacoGrande]

Bill Hunt, one of the candidates to replace Sheriff Carona, has made this statement about his CCW policy for Orange County:

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

I will issue concealed weapons permits (CCW) to any applicant who is a law abiding resident of the county, meets state mandated requirements and is not prohibited by law from possessing a firearm. The current Sheriff promised to revamp the CCW process. There have been less than 1200 issued CCW`s in a county of 3 million. The majority have been given to reserve police officers, judges, prosecutors and to reward political supporters. I will depoliticize the process and establish an annual audit to review each application to ensure the process is unbiased, non-political and equitable.

In short: That's an official statement, in writing, that OC will go shall-issue if/when Bill Hunt is elected.

This is huge. We talk about CCW battles in Delaware and Maryland and a lot of places. Let me point out that if Orange County were a state, it would be the 31st largest state (in terms of population) in the US. Bill Hunt winning is as big of news as getting shall-issue in 20 other, smaller states, including Delaware, Hawaii, and Rhode Island (currently may-issue states).

To put it another way: If Bill Hunt wins and Orange County goes shall-issue, it will probably double the number of permits in California. Logic: OC has about 3mil people. In states that are shall-issue, typically between 1% and 2% of the population gets issued. CA currently has 40k CCWs. That would probably double of OC were truly shall-issue.

If you are lucky enough to be from a shall-issue state, please send your support (contributions, posting in other forums, or just emails of encouragement) to Bill Hunt.

His campaign website: http://www.billhuntforsheriff.com/

To give more background to non-Californians: California is may-issue, with policies set by sheriffs. The current OC sheriff, Sheriff Carona, is friendly but not really shall-issue. To win the battle in California, we need to win sheriffs' races, one county at a time. If the major counties of Los Angeles, Orange County and Sacramento go shall-issue (which they could, perhaps in this election cycle) it will set the momentum for all the other smaller counties. Our county battles are as important as your state battles, and some of our counties are as big as almost any other state. Los Angeles is about 10mil people, and it would be the 9th largest state if it were a state. So if you care about CCW in other jurisdictions, please give some thought to what's going on in California sheriffs' races.

Mods: could you make this sticky? This is every bit as big a fight as shall-issue in Kansas, Nebraska, Delaware, etc, which are all smaller places than OC in terms of population.

[Black Majik]

I'm going to do a little more research on him, but I'm hoping he's not just campaigning what we want to hear. Corona is pretty good at issuing CCW permits, but if Hunt will make OC shall issue, thats a much bigger plus than may issue.

Read more here:
http://www.billhuntforsheriff.com/pd...sblueprint.pdf

Sounds pretty promising, hope we can get a Sheriff on our side!

[Black Majik]

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...701#post267701


He's looking like a better candidate every minute

[crazed_ss]

Wow that's awesome.
I'd consider moving to Orange County if this guy gets elected and is telling the truth.
Unfortunately that would mean an extra 50 miles tacked on to my daily commute

[ElTacoGrande]

I'd consider moving to Orange County if this guy gets elected and is telling the truth

I'll probalby move if/when he wins.

[bratch]

What kind of support does it look like he is receiving? Any early poll numbers?

[yy]

well now...

I've been planning a move from OC to LA county. If OC goes shall issue, boy oh boy, I'd have to declare dual residency. I'll spend half my time in OC to make sure I qualify.


Of course, I hope Sheriff Carona responds by taking OC to shall issue himself. I'd want to reward his past work in making more CCWs available in OC. He can cinch my support if he promises to go shall issue. And I'd pledge my resource to his re-election if he goes to shall issue right now.


ya hooooo

[ElTacoGrande]

This is a very big deal for California and the whole US. A lot of people have a choice of declaring LA or OC residence, and shall-issue OC will make the decision for a lot of people. And if a lot of OC residents start getting issued that does put pressure on LA to start issuing. People in LA will start saying, "Well, my friends from OC can pack when they visit me in LA but I'm not allowed to in my own city. What up with that?"

[Black Majik]

Hmm... should I apply for a OC CCW now with Carona in office now before the elections or should I wait out the elections and risk getting a anti-CCW CLEO in office? Carona has been pretty good about issuing CCWs, I might lose my chance if I wait after the elections...

What would you guys do? I hope Hunt wins.

[yy]

The CCW application fee and class tuition are outside of my budget for now.


but if I had the funds...

I'd apply quickly to try to get a decision before the election result comes out. I just worry that the election and campaign might slow down permit review. What did packing.org say about the expected wait time for an OC permit?

The good thing is that we only need to pass the CCW class once. I haven't heard of a requirement to retake the class for each new application after the previous one failed. but wait, is there a wait time between applications if I failed the last one? hmmm


I've been putting off my CCW for budget reasons. I wanna SA 1911 so I can put down more than one pistol on my application form. This adds more cost to the tuition and fees. sigh.

[ElTacoGrande]

Hmm... should I apply for a OC CCW now with Carona in office now before the elections or should I wait out the elections and risk getting a anti-CCW CLEO in office?

Apply now. The worst thing that can happen is they can deny you and then you can apply later. If something horrible happens in the election and Carona is replaced by someone who is no-issue, then you will have lost your chance.

They will tell you whether you qualify BEFORE you pay all the money involved. If you can get it, get it.

[Rumpled]

Bill Hunt won the endorsement vote of the Sheriff's Deputies association (whatever it's called).
It was close, something like 35% to 32% or 28% for Carona.
I believe it was last week, searching LA Times or OC Register will probalby find it.

[Oldskoolfan]

Well I hope it goes well? Is OC near Las Angeles? I am thinking of applying to schools out there and would definately want a CCW if I am going out that way. Anyways congratulations will be in order I hope. Is OC home to any good colleges?

[ElTacoGrande]

Well I hope it goes well? Is OC near Las Angeles? I am thinking of applying to schools out there and would definately want a CCW if I am going out that way. Anyways congratulations will be in order I hope. Is OC home to any good colleges?

Orange County borders with Los Angeles County. OC is to the south, LA to the north. OC is home to quite a few colleges, some are excellent, and some are stepping-stones to other places.

The best in OC is UC-Irvine. Some of its departments (Computer Science, Biology) are nationally-recognized as being excellent. Admission is strongly competitive. There's also Cal State Fullerton, which is good, but not as competitive as UCI. There are also some community colleges, including Orange Coast College. OCC is as good as you want it to be; if you push yourself there you can learn a lot and use it as a stepping-stone to other institutions.

My list there is by no means exhaustive. There are quite a few which might be ideal for you, depending on your goals.

So yes there are some great schools in OC, and it looks like you'll be able to get a permit there. As a lowly college student I promise you will NOT get a permit from Sheriff Baca in Los Angeles County.

[yy]

Yeah, Like the big taco says, apply now.

wonder who I can get for my three references...



Tecumseh - How good do you want the colleges? Orange County is to the east and the south of Los Angeles county. Famous colleges include UC Irvine, Chapman University. Good colleges (better than community colleges) include Cal State Fullerton.

This is getting a little off topic now. So to bring it back on topic: check this link for OC ccw process/course.
http://www.ftatv.com/fta__classes_ccw.html

[liberty911]

I live in OC and have to disagree the county is "Shall Issue" by the literary meaning of the words.

"Shall issue" should mean a CCW must be issued to the applicant upon a showing of no felony record, mental disorder,proof of basic safety and ability, and a small fee to cover the administrative costs.

"Shall issue" in OC means references, a good-cause statement, psycological evaluation paid for by the applicant, a mandatory special class paid for by the applicant, limitations on the firearms carried, and an elevated application cost not reasoanbly associated with the processing fee. Each of these are discretionary and any one may be used to deny the CCW. Hardly a "shall issue" county. Better than "no issue" but not what Sherriff Corona promised or boasts about.

[HighVelocity]

Only one way to find out if this will work and that's to put him in office. Good Luck CA. You need it.

[Standing Wolf]

It may be a small step, but it's a step.

[Gordon Fink]

Originally Posted by ElTacoGrande

Bill Hunt promises shall-issue …

Well, that’s not what he said at all, but he does imply that he would issue more permits than Sheriff Carona has.

~G. Fink

[dav]

Have any of you ever been to the annual California Rifle and Pistol Association (CRPA) banquet in Irvine?

Sheriff Carona attends (I've only been twice, and he's been there both times). He says he issues permits. Everyone I know who has applied in Orange County under Carona has received their permit.

Are you sure this is actually an issue that will be improved with a different sheriff?

[TexasRifleman]

Originally Posted by dav

He says he issues permits. Everyone I know who has applied in Orange County under Carona has received their permit.

Well there seems to be a pretty big gap between the 2 sides stories here.

We have people saying Carona gives them to anyone that asks, and the other side saying only 1200 have been issued under Carona.

Which is correct? What are the record keeping requirements there? Any way to verify?

[ElTacoGrande]

Well there seems to be a pretty big gap between the 2 sides stories here.

I'm not from OC, but here's what I gather:

1. "For personal protection" is not a good enough cause statement. It needs to be a little bit more: "I'm an avid shooter", "I'm a doctor", whatever. Probably anyone with a bit of creativity and effort could qualify themselves for this, but still, it is a restriction.
2. Fees are high. They require certain approved training courses, psych exam, etc, all of which cost money.
3. The fact that the process is somewhat complicated and lengthy and not shall-issue discourages a lot of people from applying, even people who could probably get it if they really wanted to.
4. Obviously, the program is not being promoted, and if you call up and ask they probably tell people "you need a good cause" which turns people away from even learning more about it.

I think one thing we're seeing here is that shall-issue has swept the nation so it's becoming an issue that people in CA are aware of now. This is the first time I have ever heard of CCW being an issue at all in sheriffs' races in CA. This time it's a prominent issue. That means we're winning.

It only takes two major-county sheriffs (OC, LA) to turn and CA will be almost all the way on the winning side of this issue. Pretty much all of rural California has gone shall-issue.

SF will never go shall-issue until forced to do so by some external pressure.

[Gordon Fink]

The real question is how many people have applied in Orange County (under Carona) and been denied? I strongly suspect that those who expect to be denied simply don’t apply. I had planned to use the frequent-shooter reason for my application, but I haven’t been to the range even a dozen times since my daughter was born last year, so I’ve been holding off.

Perhaps I can go with the strangers-want-to-steal-my-baby approach …

~G. Fink

[Kevlarman]

If you're lucky to own a registered assault weapon in CA, just put down "I'm an avid shooter and am afraid that someone may rob me and steal my AR-15, putting another cop-killing assault weapon on the streets."

Hopefully all of us who own offlist lowers will have them become AWs soon!

[Oldskoolfan]

I am not to interested in the colleges. But I thank all of you for trying to help me. I may become interested if I do not get into the University of Washington. I am in IL and I see crap happen at a college campus all the time. At my college last week we had a shooting. The student was not seriously hurt and was shot below the kidneys and the bullet exited out of his thigh area. He was mugged and they took his wallet after shooting him. Thats the rumor as to where he got shot but the facts are this place is dangerous.