County to begin issuing concealed-gun permits
By BENITA Y. WILLIAMS
The Jackson County sheriff's office will begin processing applications next month for citizens to carry concealed weapons, Sheriff Tom Phillips announced Thursday.
The county will be the last in western Missouri to issue the permits since the law was passed last year amid concerns about how counties would pay to process the permits, leaving St. Louis County and city the only places in the state were the permits are not available.
Phillips decided to take applications beginning Feb. 7, he said in a written statement, because the County Legislature this year provided an additional $48,000 in overtime pay for deputies who will process the paperwork and background checks required for the permits.
Now funding is provided, so we're going forward with the program, said Deputy Ronda Montgomery, sheriff's office spokeswoman.
The county was among several that filed legal challenges to the 2003 concealed-weapons law because it did not allow the application fee to be used for staff and other costs of issuing the permits. The fees can be used only for training and equipment. Phillips maintains his stance that the law should be corrected, Montgomery said.
After voters in 1999 rejected a proposal to allow residents to carry concealed weapons, state lawmakers passed a concealed weapons bill last year and overrode then-Gov. Bob Holden's veto. The Missouri Supreme Court upheld the essence of the law but said the method for funding permit applications could be unconstitutional if it imposed an unfunded mandate on counties.
Jackson County Legislature Chairman Dan Tarwater said Jackson County agreed to pay the costs for Phillips to issue the permits to gain greater control over who receives them. After some counties initially refused to issue the permits, hundreds of Missouri residents began getting concealed-weapons licenses from other states.
Other counties all around us are doing it, Tarwater said. People can go online and get permits in other states that are legal here. We wanted to control the process a little bit better and to make sure the background checks are done to make it a safer process.
The law allows most Missouri residents 23 or older to receive concealed-weapons permits after passing background checks and firearms training. Jackson County will accept applications from 12:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, at the sheriff's office at 3310 N.E. Rennau Drive in Lee's Summit.
A nonrefundable fee of $38 must be paid to the Missouri Highway Patrol, and an additional $62 must be paid to the Jackson County sheriff's office. The fees must be paid by check or money order; no cash or credit cards will be accepted.
Applicants must also provide proof of the required firearms training and identification showing county residency. For more information, call the Jackson County sheriff's office at (816) 524-4302.
