The gun-rights folks keep saying that "may issue" programs for approving CCW permits are abused by the local police. In some cases this may be true, however the complainers always omit an obvious advantage to the "may issue" policy.
When a juvenile offender, like our most recent one in Washington, reaches the age of 21 and applies for a Concealed Carry permit he may very well qualify. Some of the worst, violent juvenile offenders have no convictions as an adult when applying for their permit. The local law enforcement is very familiar with these young people, who should be denied the permit for obvious reasons.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
there is a counter argument to that and also a simple fix to the Washington state system. under current firearms laws you have to fill out paper work to buy a gun and one of the question is have you ever been convicted of a felony or served prison time. answering no to that automatically means you can not own a fire arm and secondly you commit a federal crime if you lie on the form.
ReplyDeletethe simple solution in Washington is that you mark on the database that they have a juvenile record not what they did.
lastly in the state of VA your Juvenile record is looked at also when applying for a Conceal Cary permit.
Juvenile court records aren't sealed with regard to a background check. I don't know all the details of the boy's case, so I can't make a judgement (due process of law, remember?), but may issue discretion isn't needed to keep him from getting a carry license if he's convicted. The current system will do that already.
ReplyDeleteJuvenile records are not included in the NCIS data base, which is the national data base used for firearm sales.
ReplyDeleteIn every state that I know of, Juvenile records are sealed.
Cite a source that is independent and verifiable, and then show that it if this is true - and I doubt it is - that it is true in a significant number of jurisdictions.
I used to work in a residential treatment facility for youthful offenders here in Arkansas. We had the understanding that the children's records wouldn't be available to ordinary citizens--employers, for example--but would always be available to law enforcement. The rules vary, but at the least, the record would have to be expunged.
ReplyDeleteGreg is correct to some extent.
ReplyDeleteThe criminal record needs to be expunged by petition in most jurisdictions.
Law Enforcement, the military, and some licensing bodies can get the information.
For example, a court can use a juvenile record to enhance the sentence.
The military can get the information for security clearance purposes.
And expungements never completely clear the record anyway, which is why some licencing authorities ask for arrest information even if the record was expunged.
Thanks for the great and informative comments. As I said, the local law enforcement has to have a say in who gets the concealed carry permit if we expect to keep it clean.
ReplyDeleteLocal law enforcement does have a say. If I commit a crime in their jurisdiction, they are free to report that fact.
ReplyDelete