Tennessee Firearms Assoc. Inc.

Ok, you guys won't believe this....... Or maybe you will. This is a prime example of Tennessee Government bullcrap:

If you read my original post above, you'll see that after sending in my application and money, the check never cleared my bank.

I've called the department (the one on Foster Ave. in Nashville) now a total of 4 times. On my first call, I was told they were about 8 weeks back-logged and that I should just wait as I still had plenty of time before my current permit expires.

On my 2nd call, I talked to a totally different person who had no record of my calling before, and who knew nothing about my permit or my situation. He took my name and phone number and promised me he'd have (Jennifer???) call me back ASAP. Guess what.... Yup, NOBODY ever called me back.

On my 3rd call, I actually talked to Jennifer, and was told they had no record of my application and no record of my check coming into their office. She told me that ALL applications and checks that were received in the month of May had been processed, and that since I've not heard anything and since no record of my application was there, it was "SAFE TO ASSUME" my application and check had been lost in the mail or lost in the office, and she told me to call my bank, put a "Stop Payment" on my check, fill out a new check and a new application and just re-submit everything again. At this time, I pretty much blew up on the telephone, and informed her that if they are running 8 weeks behind as she said they were, my current permit was going to expire before they would process all this stuff. But alas, I took her advice.

The next day I called my bank, told them what happened and put a stop payment on that check. They charged me 15 bucks to do this. So now my new permit is going to effectively cost more than it should. I got a new application and sent it in with my new payment the following day.

About 3 or 4 days after all this happened, I got a notice in the mail from the Dept of Safety on Foster Ave. The notice stated that they had received my application and money (the original one, mind you) but they were holding the payment because the application had not been properly filled out. Apparently, I had missed a question or something.

The check they were holding was the one I had placed a stop payment on. It's not gonna go through anyway.

So now I call the 4th time. What gets me through this entire process is, that nobody, absolutely nobody seems to keep records or communicate down there. If they were holding my app and my money for any reason, why could they not have just told me that in the beginning. Anyway, now I am told that I have 30 days to respond to this notice or my permit will be denied. If they are running 8 weeks behind schedule, there is no way they will even see my new app in the 30 day period.

So to tell you the truth, I don't know what's going on or what to expect. Every time I call the office and talk to somebody down there on the phone, I feel like I'm talking to a retard. They now have 2 applications, 2 checks, one of the checks has been cancelled, and my permit expires in a few days. They are 8 weeks back-logged on their work, but they are giving me only 30 days.

I'd ask John if there was anything I could do from a legal perspective, but I can't afford to spend 30,000 bucks on a lawyer for a 50 dollar permit.

I just hope everyone who tries to renew their permits aren't faced with the same crap I am facing.

And to answer your question, Stovepipe........ No. As of right now, nobody has asked me to surrender my old permit. Since I am trying to renew by mail, I don't know how I'd do this anyway.

Is there anybody out there at all that can help me or give me some good advice?