Inside the Arizona DPS CCW Unit

[XDmAZ]

I took my AZ CCW class on April 4th and mailed all my info right away. Today is July 1st and I am still waiting for my permit. If anyone else is in this situation, you may want to read this. My ccw instructor visited the Dept. Public Safety CCW unit and here is what he found.

I had the oppurtunity to see/tour the AZ DPS CCW Unit today with the supervisor Donna Street. I was really impressed with what they have to do with as little as they got! The office space is smaller than my living room/kitchen area in my house!!!!

Anyways,,,,, They have only 5 people that work the AZ CCW unit total after the AZ State budget cut backs (they used to have 10 to 12 people). I saw a couple thousand applications in various stages of completion.

Here is the application process, The application is mailed or dropped off at DPS. It is then gathered and bundled in accordance to when they received them (in regards to the date they received them). It then goes to an opening station, where the packet is checked to see that all documents needed are with the application and stamped with the date it is checked (this is when the 75 days starts, not when you mailed it in or took your class). If not it is sent to the rejection area to be returned to the applicant. After the opening area, it goes to the entry area to be entered into the system and it is run thru various systems such as NCIC, ACIC, III, ect.

The print cards are bundled and taking to the FBI to have the FBI check run on them. This is where everything has to wait till they get the FBI info back from and check to see that everything meets the minimum requirements. 2 print cards are required to be sent in! If 1 should be deemed as unclassifiable, then the second one is immediately ready to be used. If the second one is also unusable (which can and will happen for multiple reasons) an FBI name check is then conducted and this process takes approx 4 to 6 weeks to complete. When DPS sends a name to the FBI check it is faxed to them only, this is the same fax number that Firearms dealers use also. So you can imagine how many faxes it most likley gets.

There were approx 1,200 applications in a special area that needed to be looked at due to having file stops placed on them form the backround checks. A filestop means the application had a hit for various reasons, example: Felony charges, DV's, sound a like names, ect.... These applicants have to be looked at again to see what popped up, which is a time consuming process.

I saw a stack of FBI return info on applicants that was approx 3,500 pages thick, the printer consistantly prints out this info. The 3,500 pages I saw was from the last fridays entry's alone. These pages have to be checked one by one....

I also saw approx 533 CCW permit cards that were currently being printed out, in order to mail out to waiting applicants (i recognized several names that went thru my classes). These also have to be inserted by hand into waiting envelopes. I also saw a lot of applications that only had 1 print card sent in.

There had to be approx 10,000 + print cards and applications waiting to be destroyed, DPS is required to destroy all applications, print cards and envelopes from prior completed applicants.

With only five people doing the CCW process they work each step a little at a time. One person would do opening today and then data entry tomorrow. There was a file cabnet with quite a few un-opened applications sorted out by the date they received them. I can see this process being a minimum of 9 to 10 people at least in order to operate effeciently! From what I saw, they are truley doing what they can with what they got! Specially since CCW permit app's are way up and they were forced by the Gov to reduce thier work force.....

As of this posting they were entering applications received on June 9th.

Thought you all might find this interesting. I did ask his permission to repost it here.

[Austin]

With all the modern technology this is stupid. If it takes 10 minutes to get your background cleared to buy a gun, then why does it take so long to get a license to carry said gun?

[AZSATT]

Originally Posted by Austin

With all the modern technology this is stupid. If it takes 10 minutes to get your background cleared to buy a gun, then why does it take so long to get a license to carry said gun?

Money. Or lack thereof.

Some states, like AZ, are so broke I'm surprised they're not making prisoners carve permits out of stone.

But doing so would violate several civil rights of those 'poor misunderstood victims of society,' so the State workers still fortunate enough to be employed do it.

The turnaround time from application to permit in hand here in AZ is still pretty good, all things considered. Generally speaking anyway... I know of a few exceptions in both directions, but considering the volume processed and limited staffing numbers, I still think AZ DPS CCW Unit is doing a fine job.

(This is not a paid endorsement, and I am not Billy Mays.)

[Old Zebra]

Wow! Got my AZ CCW permit awhile back. If I remember correctly, I was told at the time that although the DPS CCW Unit was small it did an amazing job in processing applications quickly. I became a believer when I received my permit 5 days after I mailed the application.

I guess the combination of staff cuts and a significant increase in applications has overwhelmed the unit. Your timing is unfortunate, but hang in there!

[Old Zebra]

Wow! Got my AZ CCW permit awhile back. If I remember correctly, I was told at the time that although the DPS CCW Unit was small it did an amazing job in processing applications quickly. I became a believer when I received my permit 5 days after I mailed the application.

I guess the combination of staff cuts and a significant increase in applications has overwhelmed the unit. Your timing is unfortunate, but hang in there!

[XDmAZ]

Thanks Old Zebra, I'm still waiting patiently. The article did make me a little more understanding with the people working there, but less so with our state government.