California has many different definitions of "Residency." The definition for tax purposes and school tuition are different from the one used for firearms law. The firearms definition of residency is copied from the Driver's License definition and is as follows:
"For purposes of this division only and notwithstanding Section 516, residency shall be determined as a person’s state of domicile. “State of domicile” means the state where a person has his or her true, fixed, and permanent home and principal residence and to which he or she has manifested the intention of returning whenever he or she is absent."
Although the definition is given in terms of "state of domicile", is is broadly interpreted to mean the "permanent home and principle residence" when applied to intra-state residences.
The cases I'm familiar with have been primarily from San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Both are close the the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Los Angeles County does not issue CCW Permits to ordinary residents. An audit a few years ago showed that the majority of issued permits were to reserve deputies, senior civilian staff of the department, judges and deputy district attorneys. Because of this, amny L.A. County residents have attempted to bamboozle the Riverside and San Bernardino Sheriffs into issuing. The deception was most commonly detected during the applicant interview, employer interviews and neighborhood checks. California agencies do actual "Background Checks" on CCW applicants. It's not a paper process.
It's the word 'Principle" in the definition that causes the problem. If the applicant works in Downtown L.A., but is claiming a "Principle Residence" in the lake resort of Big Bear (a popular location for vacation homes, about two hours from Los Angeles and in San Bernardino County) it don't take a rocket scientist investigator to figure out that the applicant probably doesn't live there as his "Principle Residence." A quick check of the Lexis/Nexis service will likely show another residence closer to L.A. and then the investigator will quantify the time spent at each residence and then issue the denial letter for misrepresentation.
For a person employed that absolutely makes sense. You have a full time non mobile job in one area, and you have a house in a second area known for vacation homes, with lots of neighbors. If you have deputies who do an actual physical investigation, interview neighbors etc things can be discovered.
I was recently interviewed by the FBI for a background check on a neighbor who worked for Lockheed and needed a higher security clearance for a military contract job. They (fbi) didn’t reveal much more. But asked me tons of questions, some I could answer some I could not because I simply didn’t know.
however I do see instances where that might be impossible to do. If an FBI agent were to ask me about my neighbors in Utah I would have no clue, as well as if they asked my neighbors in Utah they wouldn’t have a clue either, as my closest neighbors are 5 miles away. Same goes for the second home I own in Texas. Neighbors live about 10 miles away and I have never met them in the 20 years I have owned the property.
Before I retired, I worked for myself, with clients all over the state. So if anyone wanted to pin down my actual primary home residence they would be hard pressed. Then or now.
if California does actual physical checks and interviews, then that is one possible way they can determine true residence. Check other documents available for public viewing such as DL, vehicle registrations, and other Items. however It’s not Without its issues either.
I am sure if I purchased a home in California, even in a Pro-2A County, I would not be able to get a Ca CCW easily and without taking lots of effort and spending lots of time and money to be able to show some reasonable level of residency to get approved. Which would require a lot more time and money then I personally believe it would be worth.
If I allready lived in California though, that all might be a different story. Hard to say as I probably wouldn’t be working or living in a non 2A county in the first place. Who knows.
I was just wondering about How California determines residency, verifies etc...
As far as Utah goes.... I could probably get a resident LTC fairly easy enough. However, it would actually be easier to just get and maintain a non-resident ltc. Currently from what I can gather, there is no advantage to having a resident over non-resident. Either obtains reciprocity with Washington, and every other state that recognizes Utah resident or non resident, recognizes Texas as well.
