Tuesday - March 03, 2009

Day 65

Small Good News: We heard that our friend just got her permits and picked them up. She applied back in the beginning of December, so it was 87 days start to finish for her. And interestingly enough, when she picked up her permits the police asked to get her fingerprints again, as the first set wasn’t usable. Huh. That tells me that her application went through the entire background checking process without her fingerprints, so no AFIS check? But that’s Ok, and they’ll still issue them without that? Leads one to wonder ...

Big Good News: I mentioned last month how, after more than 30 days waiting, I had contacted my legislative representatives for some help, after finding out that lawyers charge $750 per person to get the job done. A week or so after my emails, I got a call directly from my Assemblyman, Mike Doherty (R, NRA A+ rating). He had spoken to the State Police on my behalf, learned that they claimed to be utterly backlogged, and passed that info on to me. We had a great conversation lasting nearly an hour, and I learned how the NJ legislature works in real world terms. He urged me to be patient, as all the applications get processed eventually.

A day after my email I got back an email response from my NJ Senator, Marcia Karrow (R, NRA A+ rating). The email said how this was an issue she felt strongly about, and would be in contact with me when she had some news. Yadda yadda ya. Sounded like a form letter, right? Wrong. I just got off the phone with her office. She has called for a meeting with the higher ups at the NJSP on the 11th, to find out why they are claiming a backlog when they are already well funded and well staffed, and to remind them that the 30 day law exists and that they have to follow it. And my application, by name, is going to be one of her cases-in-point. The Staties have dodged the meeting 3 times already, but it looks like they’re going to make this one this time.

Oh ... joy?  On the one hand I am just as pleased as punch that my elected officials are doing something, anything, for me. On the other hand I’m a little nervous about being a case in point. This is New Jersey after all. On the third hand, maybe if I’d just kept my mouth shut I’d have my permits already. But I doubt that. On the fourth hand, screw all of that, I’m willing to take a bit of risk if it can make things better for everyone else in the long run. But I feel a little antsy anyway.

So I wrote to the NRA-ILA and gave them an update, and told them that these two legislators deserved those A+ ratings, especially Senator Karrow. And that they should run a public awareness campaign:

Posted by Drew458     on 03/03/2009 at 03:39 PM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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