Overly-complicated process for obtaining TN HCP!!

[Fred762]

I am passing this along to let folks know some of the pitfalls which SEEM to have been deliberately set up for TN citizens who want a Handgun Carry Permit.

My fiance' just completed the process for getting her HCP this past summer. She has been a shooter for 5 years and has her own handguns, and wanted her permit so she could comply with the law. This is how it went, including time spent:
1. she enrolled in "handgun ssafety class" at the APPS facitity in Nashville, where she spent her $$ and a weekend back in early June and easily passed her quals. No problemo so far.
2. Then she had to wait several weeks to find the time to go to the local DMV office at 0630 in the morning of a work day..she had to take 1/3 of a day off work..to stand in line with a bunch of illegal aliens and others waiting to get their DLs. [She was only waiting to get the state application for a HCP]. That process took about 2 hours, then she had to ask for help from a state 'employee' at the DMV to fill out the aplication...and get a picture taken.
3. She was then told she had to go get her fingerprints taken "somewhere else", since they do not do FPs at the DMV.
4. After several days of searching online, she found that she would have to go BACK to APPS [on a weekday]...where she had taken the shooting class...to GET her FPs done..another wasted day of driving around!! So she went back on a weekday after leaving work early for the trip. Sent appl'n, $$$ and PFs to the state.
5. Three weeks later she got the application back with instructions to re-fill it out because she had made a mistake..remember it was filled out w help from a DMV worker!
6. this was all sent in and three weeks later she finally got her permit...took two months including hours and hours of waiting in lines and driving around!
I believe there should be a simpler way: APPS could do the shooting class & the prints, & the application and accept a passport photo all in ONE DAY..and send it all in. What say ye??

[tnxdshooter]

No offense but sounds like most of these issues were her fault.


The application is easy to fill out it is not rocket science. You simply answer yes or no. Secondly, they give you at the DMV or should a number to call to get your finger prints done electronically for free through Cogent Systems. Most places like UPS store, Mailboxes etc. and the like have these cogent electronic fingerprinting machines. You call cogent and get a confirmation number and a code. You then go get finger printed give the people the code and they automatically send it to the state. This should have all been explained at the HCP class. It was easy and took not long at all to do the paperwork. Back when I did my permit it took three months to get everything processed due to back log at the state. My dad filled out his paperwork got his fingerprints done and got his permit in about two weeks.

[tnxdshooter]

Again no offense but I guess what I am getting at is if you can read, follow directions, and do what the directions tell you unless you have problems with your back ground check there should be no issues.

[Rbtama101]

One comment to say here: Guns and Leather. The class they give for permit is awesome and they spell out, step by step what and where to do everything. Plus, they do fingerprints in house.

[PapaB]

With all due respect to those making comments, I think you miss the point the OP was trying to make. Getting your HCP in this state is an overly burdensome process. I'll add the thought that it's excessively expensive too.
No matter how smoothly it goes, you'll have to spend 12 to 16 hours, spread out over time, to get it done. They could simplify things by adding 30 minutes to the HCP class time. That 30 minutes would be for filling out the application and getting fingerprinted. Then you should be able to take your prints and application, along with a passport photo, to any law enforcement agency office where you would show proper ID, pay the fee and go home to wait. Nine hours total time. The fee for fingerprints would be part of the class fee (which would be raised by $25) and the balance of the fee would be another $25 for a total initial cost of $50 with renewals at $25 every four years. I know they wouldn't do this because it would make the HCP accessable to too many people. I think the current methods and costs are unconstitutional because they're overburdensome to the citizens of this state. I wish someone could get the State Supreme Court to rule on that. People shouldn't be required to jump through so many hoops in order to excercise their Constitutional rights.

I now step down from the soap box and relinquish the microphone. Thank you for your time.

[ProguninTN]

I think I have to agree with tndxshooter. The application wasn't very difficult to fill out. I did find it annoying having to wait in line behind first-time driver license applicants while renewing. (Eye tests, road tests, and knowledge tests combined eat up a lot of time.) I think I spent 2 hours waiting, for a transaction that took 10 minutes to complete: Submit application, have it glanced over by examiner, pay fees, and get picture taken.)

[Fred762]

Read the OP..the main complaints were the horrible waste of TIME getting the forms and FPs...she is a college-educated woman with common sense, her own private shooting range in her back yard, and tried to follow the directions as given to her.. The "employee at the DMV" who "helped her" in filling out the forms made errors which added 3 weeks to the process!
We just feel that the WHOLE process has been made very unwieldy on purpose...all the stuff could easily be done at APPS or anywhere you take the shooting class..as some have noted, adding only $25 to their fee. If APPS can teach you to SHOOT they can get you to FILL OUT the state form ..and since they have to have the form b4 they can do the FPs, they should have the forms there for you to fill out...thus bypassing the DMV 100%. Nobody told her about any online PF btw. Nobody should have to stand in lines at any DMV office behind a bunch of illegals, waithng for a form!
Thanks for yer time.

[Fred762]

Again, all I wanted to DO was lay out the wasted TIME she had to spend...TIME!!! GAS MONEY!!! TIME!!
All those working stiffs here(I am included) have little TIME to waste standing in lines at places like DMV etc... or driving around looking for a place to get finger printed, etc, etc. Why the heck does DMV and its' bureaucrats even have to be IN the mix at all???

ALL of the HCP processing should be easily DONE at one sitting where you take you SHOOTING class!

Look, if the state trusts the APPS to do the shooting part, it should also trust the APPS [and other shooting shops] to DO the application filling out and finger printing. What a great amount of TIME we would save: getting a passport photo is a 2 minute process at Kinkos or a Walgreens fer cripesakes..you do not have to stand in line behind a bunch of teenie bopers or illegal aliens either!
It would actually be even FASTER if the state would simply add an "endorsement" to yer Drivers License after the gun shop sent in your shooting quals: much like you get when you get qualified to operate a motorcycle in TN.. You would not even need a new photo or separate card if you didn't want one..simply check off the box on the appl'n where it should say.."do you want an endorsement or separate card?"

Thanx! Fred762