I can't wink without screwing up one whole side of my face. That reason alone made me leery of ever shooting a gun. That whole aiming thing.
Even though I would never go on for pages and pages writing all sorts of fine details regarding weapons—because the only people likely to still be awake at the end would be those readers looking for an error—I still have an interest in developing a personal understanding of guns. Hand guns in particular. How to handle them. What recoil might really feel like. To help me be a better crime fiction writer. Plus I'm slightly competitive and targets are a good way to measure success.
A few years ago I attended Writer's Police Academy in Greensboro, North Carolina. One of my favorite take-aways was the FATS (Fire Arms Training Simulator) sessions I participated in. Though only air guns, I shot a Glock and a Sig-Sauer. And did a lot of yelling. "Drop your weapon! Now! Do it! Do it!" No one was rushing to sign me up as a ringer in a shooting competition, but I didn't embarrass myself either.
Since then, I've had a range date with my husband and completed a basic pistol course that included a little more time on the range. And now, since I can, I've decided to apply for a concealed carry permit.
Which is where the horse has stopped cold.
I appreciate that our county requirements are tough when it comes to allowing people to carry concealed weapons. I think it's a fine thing that drug addicts, alcoholics, convicted felons, fugitives from justice (yes, they actually ask that question on the form) are routinely denied the right to hide a weapon on their person.
But trying to provide them satisfactory proof that I have lived in the house I've lived in since 1985 wasn't the slam-dunk I thought it would be.
The only acceptable proof is one of the following three things: a "current utility bill with the applicant's name and address" (this is the preferred proof); "current lease or rental agreement"; or a "notarized statement from the owner verifying the applicant's residency if the property listed as the applicant's residence is owned by another party." Technically speaking, I can't provide any one of those things. Not one. The utility bills only reflect my husband's name. We don't rent. We both own the residence. No other proof of residency is acceptable. (For purposes of full disclosure, we're not 100% sure on the utility bill thing since they'd already been paid and we didn't have them laying around, and I have drawn up The Stupidest affidavit in all of history as a last resort.)
The state legislature is currently discussing a proposed bill that would allow people who've been convicted of less serious crimes to obtain a concealed carry permit.
It appears that it might soon be easier for a convict to carry a weapon than a wife. Planned, do you think?
Interesting question: But it may reflect a larger problem. My daughter-in-law recently had to produce a piece of official mail to prove to the DMV where she lived...in order to get her drivers license. And it made me think: When was the last time I received a piece of official mail?
ReplyDeleteI do all my banking and bill paying electronically, and I choose not to have the paper copies mailed to me. But I can download and print them at any time. These laws and regulations have to be modernized to take into account the digital world we live in.
I wanted to ask the very same question, LJ. So many things are done electronically these days. I think I'll hold my tongue until I have my permit in hand though.
DeleteInteresting post, Peg, and you make a very good point about wives. Be sure that everything is in both names. But just thinking of all those other people applying to carry a concealed weapon is really scary to me!
ReplyDeleteLOL, Jodie. The ones you should be afraid of are the ones who are carrying anyway! In Arizona, where my sister lives, anyone can carry anything anywhere anytime. The wild, wild west. Ugh.
DeleteOver in the SF world (which I also inhabit), the problems L.J. refers to are the stuff of past history - been there, dealt with, repercussions for identity, livelihood, joys of living, spirituality even, etc.
ReplyDeleteForgery ain't what it used to be. It's easier electronically. (I spent the last few days dealing with debit/check card fraud. Fortunately, I check my account frequently and know my bank manager. Lots of inconveniences. And plenty of story material!!)
On the name thing, officialdom will only speak with the named party - wife, husband, whoever's over 18 (21?). Not everything has to be in both names, but some things should be. And if the utility bill is in Joe's name, then the phone bill should be in Jane's. And the water bill should be in Spot's. And they all go running...
Guns: I understand why you do it, Peg, but the older I get, the less I want to do with them - and I never did much beyond childhood cowboys and indians. Interesting topic for a post, actually: how does the gun debate affect crime/mystery/thriller writers? Or should it?
Thanks, Peg!
Great idea, David. The gun debate would be an interesting angle to work into a story. Hmmm...
DeleteI'm pretty sure all our utility bills are in hubby's name, too. Not that I want to be lugging a gun around (you know what a klutz I am). But still, red tape like that doesn't stop bad guys from getting guns, so what's the point?
ReplyDeleteSomewhere in your post is the seed of a good story. I'm dying to know what lengths a fictional housewife would go to, to get a handgun... and what would motivate her to go to such lengths.
I know, crazy huh?
DeleteYou and David should get together and write the gun debate/wife with a gun story.
Take care of your thumb.
I could be missing something, but I'm still not clear why having a permanent residence is crucial for purchasing a gun. It seems focusing on a person's mental state would be the most important factor--something that in recent years has been overlooked and which led to tragic results. Last I checked, utility bills don't contain that information.
ReplyDeletePlus we pay a hefty fee for the background check. Ya gotta wonder.
DeleteWhen we started to straighten out my mother's household accounts after moving her out post-Katrina, we discovered that one of her utility bills was still in my grandfather's name. He died in 1945! Thanks to the magic of databases, every now and then I still get junk mail addressed to him. I guess that's how you achieve immortality in this modern life.
ReplyDeleteMy father's Alzheimer started a few years before Katrina, so anything that had been his name only was put in both their names before the storm. A good thing.
DeleteNow there's a SF story in there - immortality in a database. But I'd prefer the kind that comes from children and well written stories. :)
1945… I wonder if it'll take that long for me to get my permit. Ya think?
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! Helpful too! I learned from an estate case how hard it is to prove domicile (vs. residency), especially in this day and age.
ReplyDeleteThere are already so many (gun and other) laws that are ignored including processing of rape & other evidence kits! I think too many of the politicians are being demagogues and hysterics on this issue -- I have heard none of them bothering to mention the importance of processing evidence kits and fingerprints, etc. Processing evidence would surely help get some dangerous people off the street and save misery and future victims. Some of the planned cutbacks by Congress would be cutbacks on mental health when to me the lesson we all could get from the publicity of the recent gun violence is how many cases involve people who should either be locked away or on meds (or actually both) but are nether.
I don't think the gang rape & kidnapping (by 3 TEENS) of a New Orleans woman in the Garden District this past Monday got any coverage nationally. Did any of you even hear of it? In the middle of Mardi Gras & the day after the Super Bowl lots of people needed to know how dangerous the place is. I was reading the New Orleans newspaper online is how I heard. In the nola.com comments someone asked about the great backlog of evidence kits. Last year there was also a gang rape (by 8 teens) and kidnapping in New Orleans (in Jan or Feb) of a home health nurse who had been good about going to neighborhoods not everyone would go to. Last year's case happened about 4-something in the afternoon, this year's at 6:45. In both cases the women were kidnapped into other cars.
One serial rapist in New Orleans in 1979 or 80 met his end at the hand of his (last) intended victim who he tried to snatch from her car. She a pistol and used it on him. Who knows who she saved from being his victim?
FWIW, one of the questions on the Federal Firearms transaction sheet used to be whether the purchaser had ever used marijuana. Anyone who had -- and from the medical paperwork I used to handle there were a lot of them -- had violated federal law if they bought a firearm and said they hadn't used that stuff.
--Rambling reader
I have to ask (incredibly belatedly), a guns are absolutely my purview, if you live in California? Or one of the other states with incredibly ridiculous rules for getting your cpl. States such as CA will bend over backwards to make it impossible for you to get your permit. In CA, hiring a lawyer is common practice to obtain one. Either that or you have to have a crazed serial killer stalking you...AND be able to prove it to your local sheriff. If you can let me know what state, I actually might be able to help you. :) (My friend Ami F sent me over here, I'm a published writer but not of books, and I would love to break into that area) I'm one of those that would go on and on about all the details of a gun just because I enjoy them. Sometimes it helps to know WHICH local pd to visit or what, specifically, to say when asking for your cpl. It all depends on your state. Do I think that's right? Oh, heck, no. I fought hard against HB 1588 in WA, which would have criminalized all private sales and been a universal registration law (they just didn't call it that). Happily, 1588 died on the floor this week. If I can do something to help another gun aficiando get their permit, I can die happy. Okay, maybe not "die," but you get the idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Katie. I live in Colorado. The background check is now in place and I expect both my husband and I to have our permits by the end of May, first of June.
ReplyDelete