Concealed Weapons
Concealed Carry Permits
I sincerely thank you for taking the time to either come
to the Sheriff’s Office or inquire on-line at the Cole County Sheriff’s
Website to receive updates such as this one on the implementation of the
Concealed Carry portions of Revised Statute 571.
Citizens of Cole County 23 years of age and older, may
apply at your Sheriff’s Office for a concealed carry permit. Due to shortage of staff, I am forced to only take
applications during normal working hours of 8 A.M. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 P.M.
to 3:30 P.M. Mondays through Fridays except on holidays.
Persons wishing to submit an application for a Concealed Carry Permit
need to bring a $33.25 cashier’s check or money order made out to the Missouri
Highway Patrol C.R.I.D. Fund, proof of their completion of a training course
meeting the standards of RSMo. 571.111, and $62 in cash, check or money order
for the Sheriff’s Revolving Training and Equipment Fund.
It has become apparent to me that Missouri Citizens are obtaining
concealed carry permits via the Internet from several other states without
meeting the training requirement or oversight from local law enforcement. The
cost of the out-of-state CCW permits is as low as $20 and permit holders are
totally unknown to law enforcement officers in
Answer 1. Read the Law. I’ve included a copy of the
finally agreed to and passed version of the bill dealing with the changes to RSMo.
571 for your use. Carefully study each section and subsection and be certain
you understand what is contained therein. This is not a simple task. Failure to
understand and know the law is no excuse from both criminal prosecution and/or
civil litigation should you choose to go forward with the concept of using a
firearm for self-defense.
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Answer 2. Read the Law. Certain persons will not be issued a concealed-carry permit due to their criminal history, past record of instability, addiction to drugs, age, and other limitations imposed by the law. Be certain you do not fall within the "prohibited persons" category before going further with the process to be licensed to carry a concealed firearm. The application fee is not refundable. Falsifying any portion of an application may be grounds for criminal prosecution under the laws of Missouri.
"Prohibited Persons" include:
1. Anyone under the age of 23 years at the time of application.
2. Anyone who has resided in Missouri for less than six months prior to applying.
3. Anyone who has been convicted of, pled guilty to or entered a plea of nolo contendere to a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year under the laws of any state or the United States other than a crime classified as a misdemeanor under the laws of any state and punishable by a term of imprisonment of one year or less that does not involve an explosive weapon, firearm, firearm silencer, or gas gun.
4. Anyone who has been convicted of, pled guilty to, or entered a plea of nolo contendere to one or more misdemeanor offenses involving crimes of violence within a five-year period immediately preceding application for a certificate of qualification for a concealed carry endorsement of if the applicant has been convicted of two or more misdemeanor offenses involving driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs or the possession or abuse of a controlled substance within a five-year period immediately preceding application for a certificate of qualification for a concealed carry endorsement.
5. Anyone who is a fugitive from justice or currently charged in an information or indictment with the commission of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year under the laws of any state of the United States other than a crime classified as a misdemeanor under the laws of any state and punishable by a term of imprisonment of two years or less that does not involve an explosive weapon, firearm, firearm silencer, or gas gun.
6. Anyone who has been discharged under dishonorable conditions from the United States Armed Forces.
7. Anyone who has engaged in a pattern of behavior, documented in public records, that causes the Sheriff to have a reasonable belief that the applicant presents a danger to himself/herself or others.
8. Anyone who is adjudged mentally incompetent at the time of application or for five years prior to application, or has been committed to a mental health facility, as defined in section 632.005, RSMo. or a similar institution located in another state following a hearing at which the defendant was represented by counsel or a representative.
9. Anyone who is the respondent of a valid full order of protection which is still in effect.
You are required to have completed an acceptable training course in the areas covered by the new law - including firing at a standard "B-27" paper target from a distance of 21 feet, demonstrating your ability to load and unload both a revolver and semi-auto pistol, know safety procedures, and certain other subjects outlined in the law. Read the Law!
The law allows the Sheriff to accept prior training only in certain circumstances for a very limited number of persons in lieu of completing the required 8-hour training course.
Only those persons who submit a photocopy of a certificate of completion of a firearms safety training course given by or under the supervision of a state, county, municipal, or federal law enforcement agency or is currently a qualified firearms safety instructor as defined in section 26 of RSMo 571 are excused from the training requirement portion of the new law.
It is my belief that currently licensed, and many retired, and former POST-certified law enforcement officers who have successfully completed firearms training through POST-certified training courses have fulfilled the training requirements of RSMo 571, with the exception of training on Missouri’s new carrying concealed firearms law.
All training must have been successfully completed prior to submitting your application for a certificate of qualification.
Training, other than police training, prior to September 11th, 2003, will not fulfill the training requirement, as the new law was not enacted until that date.
Answer 3. Each applicant for a "Certificate of Qualification" is required to provide certain information, which is essential to a complete background investigation. I make no exceptions for anyone and will not make any exceptions for anyone.
Your name (and past names), date of birth, and other identifiers will be hand-checked through our Cole County Sheriffs Office outstanding warrant and civil document files, jail files, offense reports, mental commitments, civil documents, and calls-for-service history records completely. Checking each individual will require about two hours of time on an average, just for our local records check and documentation.
Following our local record check, we will access state and national computer data files from agencies such as the Highway Patrol and FBI. If a "hit" occurs, (such as an incomplete arrest or court record), Sheriff’s employees will contact the agency in question and investigate further the reason for the record in the other location or locations.
We presently do all of these checks each time an individual applies for a permit to acquire a concealable firearm, so this is not a new task for your Cole County Sheriff’s personnel.
Concurrent with our local record checks, your fingerprint cards (taken at the Sheriff’s Office by Sheriffs personnel) will be hand-carried to the Highway Patrol Headquarters for checks against the state criminal records in their files. The Highway Patrol will then submit your fingerprint card to the FBI for checks against their national criminal record file. Eventually, the Highway Patrol and FBI fingerprint checks will return to the Sheriff’s Office with either a "no record found" result or ... "possible criminal record".
You Do Not want to have us find out about a past problem in your life on our own. It is always best to ask first whether a problem in your past will preclude issuance of a certificate of qualification than to swear falsely on the application.
We understand that everyone makes mistakes in their lives and believe me, we’ve seen about all the mistakes imaginable, so nothing you ask will be a new thing for us to deal with. Sometimes, what seemed like a big problem to you at the time in reality is not a disqualifying problem for this process.
A copy of your criminal history can be obtained prior to the application process by going to the Highway Patrol and submitting to their criminal history check procedure. This costs you something, but might be worth doing if your past contains problems.
The application fee is $95.25 total. You are required to pay the entire amount at the time of application in the following manner:
1. A cashier's check or money order in the amount of $33.25 made out to the "Missouri Highway Patrol C.R.I.D. Fund." This money goes to the Highway Patrol ($14) and FBI ($19.25).
2. $62 fee which can be paid in cash, check or money order made out to the "Sheriff's Revolving Training Fund." These funds go into a revolving account which is used by each Sheriff to provide services and equipment needed to complete the many varied duties of the Office of Sheriff. The funds are deposited by the County Treasurer, audited by the County Auditor, and overseen by the County Commission. Depending upon the number of applicants, this may or may not cover costs.
Actually, you will not receive an actual "Permit", but rather a "Certificate of Qualification" which is about 4 by 8 inches to utilize as a "permit" until the Department of Revenue can get up to speed with their required portion of the new law. As soon as "Revenue" is able, you will physically take your "Certificate of Qualification" to the Department of Revenue and surrender it to be issued a new Driver’s License or Non-Driver’s License as the case may be. The new license will carry your Concealed Carry Endorsement upon it just as you now have a motorcycle or other endorsement.
You are required by law to carry upon your person your Certificate of Qualification whenever you are carrying a concealed firearm and present it when asked by a law enforcement officer.
I believe there will be a fee for the new driver’s license issuance paid to D.O.R., but I am unsure of the amount charged by D.O.R. at this time.
I, your Sheriff, will issue you a "Certificate of Qualification" just as soon as the record checks come in from the FBI and Highway Patrol. The Highway Patrol estimates the turnaround time to be six to eight weeks for the FBI checks to be "snail-mailed" to each Sheriff's Office. By law, I may issue your permit at the end of 45 days if I’ve not received anything from the FBI prior to that time.
When you’ve completed the training or have obtained a photocopy of training which, by law qualifies you to bypass the training requirement and have the money to pay for the application fee.
I’ve established that the Cole County Sheriff’s Office is open 24 hours a day for our citizens in 1986. Folks know they can drop off or pick up civil papers, permit to acquire handgun applications and other business anytime. We do not close, ever.
However due to the shortage of staff we can only take applications during the following times:
8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays except on holidays.
Yes, as of October 11th, 2003, if you are 21 years of age, lawfully possess the pistol, and are not violating any other statutes, you may do so. This is the most-common reason folks have told me they wished to see the concealed firearms law passed.
A really good question at this time. There is no central clearing-house for qualified instructors. Each Sheriff is to inquire as to the quality of the training each applicant presents for qualification. I have had many folks call and say they wished to be instructors. Some are obviously well qualified, others are doubtful, and some are definitely not qualified to teach the course. There are going to be some people who are out to make a lot of money off of prospective concealed-carry permit applicants.
My best advice is to let this shake out a few weeks before you plunk down a lot of money for a training course. After teaching firearms to law enforcement officers for more than 25 years as a certified police firearms instructor, I can tell you with no uncertainty that eight hours is not time enough to teach a beginner all of the skills necessary to become a proficient pistol shooter, let alone instruct in the problems associated with using a firearm for effective defense.
If you are new to pistols, please seek out instruction that will take you to a high level of proficiency before considering using a pistol for self-defense. The firing qualification for the course is very easy. Living with yourself after making a mistake with a gun is not.
So.... where do you find good instructors? Call around. Check qualifications. If you don’t feel comfortable with the answers you receive, go somewhere else. See if the instructor has bothered to submit his certificates to the Sheriff’s office and if the Sheriffs Office has the instructor on a list of qualified persons.