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The Straight Dope on CCW Permits
There’s a lot of outright lies, ignorance, and disinformation occurring over at floridaconcealedcarry.com regarding Florida’s CCW permit, so let’s use this space to publish the truth.
Florida/DOACS has 90 days to approve or deny your application, per Florida Statutes § 120.60. There is no CCW exception to this law.
Florida/DOACS has 30 days from receipt of your file to request more information or to raise some protest about the sufficiency of your filing. So that you can prove when the clock starts running, always send your filing via Certified Mail, FedEx, or some other carrier that allows for verification of delivery. If Florida does not request any information or request a correction of your file within 30 days of receipt, your file is deemed complete, and you need do no more.
This business about the clock running from the date your check is cashed is outright rubbish, and I hope nobody squanders his rights believing such nonsense. I truly cannot believe anyone would say such a thing or that another would believe it, so bizarre and ignorant is the statement. If DOACS doesn’t request material within 30 days of receipt, they can’t request it, at all. If DOACS requests information after 30 days of receipt, their ability to request such information had lapsed, and they should be so informed.
If no request was made within 30 days of receipt, you are due an approval or a denial within 90 days. Florida is a “shall-issue” state, so the bar for denial is very high, and the State has to prove its grounds for any denial. You likely already know if you’re subject to denial.
If no request was made within 30 days of receipt of your application, on the 91[sup]st[/sup] day following receipt of your application, you are approved by default. Simple as that. You are approved whether or not you or the State wants you to be, and you are approved whether or not you tell the State “Nya, nya, I’m approved, suckers.” The statute forces State agencies to act within specified periods of time, and it gives an automatic “penalty” to State agencies for inaction. No hearing is required to make you default approved. Approval within time certain is your statutory right. You are well within your rights to hold the State to its own words.
To ensure that the State will not try any monkey business with your license by claiming a denial after the 90[sup]th[/sup] day, and to ensure that if you are caught with a gun on you after the 90[sup]th[/sup] day you won’t face jail time, it might make sense to inform DOACS that they blew the deadline, and you’re approved. Informing the State of its delay is done via a “Default Approval Letter.” A form for such a letter is appended, below, as I think I’m going to have to file one of these on this lethargic agency. If you intend to rely upon the default provisions of F.S. § 120.60, the statute demands that you place the State on notice that you intend to rely upon default in doing whatever is the subject of the license.
You must notify the agency of your intent to rely upon their default by serving a copy of your letter upon the “agency clerk” of the agency. Now, nobody knows what the heck an “agency clerk” is, and there’s nobody listed in the State Directory as holding such an office, but this matters little. A default letter sent via FedEx to the “Agency Clerk” of XYZ Agency will be received, and the agency will be properly noticed under the statute. Be sure to retain your tracking number, just in case. If it should occur that the State wants to deny your license, your Default Approval Letter would make a handy exhibit in a hearing, no? What’s better than moving to dismiss for lack of standing?
Now, here’s the difficult part. Let’s say you have filed your default letter, and you start carrying. Let’s say further that a cop stops you for Acting as a Freeman (a first-degree felony in the Bible Belt) and demands your papers. You whip out a copy of your letter to DOACS, and the thug in a costume laughs at it like the dimwit he is, arrests you and takes you to jail. See, people who wear costumed power are only impressed by costumed rights, i.e., the CCW Permit. Because of the letter, your attorney has a darn good “affirmative defense,” but these are only as good as the judge, and most judges are outright liars, substituting their own desires and worldviews for the law. A great many of them take orders from connected or powerful people, and you may be convicted in the clubhouse as the judge’s foursome is getting ready for the first tee.
Worse, Floridians have little love for freedom, and they make horrible jury members. Floridian juries believe that the judge is the source of the law and is to be believed regarding the law. Gun owners believe no such fairy tales and know that juries sit in judgment of the law, the facts, the judge, the cops, and the entire system. Know that many gun owners are born authoritarians and would love to see you buckle under the State’s lashes. Many gun owners, particularly those East of the Missouri, despise individuality and autonomy and loathe anyone who attempts to lighten his pack, claim his freedom or not act beholden to the will of another.
If you carry on a default license, there is a chance, perhaps a high one, that you’ll be convicted and serve time in prison. You’ll be absolutely right under the law, but our jails have thousands of innocent people in them. Prosecutors care only about winning, and never about right and wrong, legal or illegal. Anyone who thinks America doesn’t have political prisoners is naïve and sheltered. Think long and hard before carrying on a default license.
In the end, your rights are clear and definable. Whether you can actually access your rights in America is less clear. Insisting on freedom and governmental accountability in America is a dangerous business.
Disclaimer to placate any brownshirts who might be peering in: The above is a complete work of fiction and should not be believed by anyone, ever. While Police are entitled to blather about the law, I fully admit that citizens have no right to free speech, free discussion and free opinion regarding the law. The law is not for citizen reading or comment. The law is to be handed to us, and we are duty bound to obey it, without question. I am not admitted to the Florida Bar; these ideas are not offered pursuant to any representation, and you are, in no way, my client. If you want to know the state of the law, contact an attorney licensed in Florida.
…Or read the law for yourselves.
***
Attachment 1: Sample Default Approval Letter
VIA FACSIMILE (850) 922-4936 AND U.S. MAIL
Date
Agency Clerk
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0800
Re: Firearm Permit Application of Name
Agency Clerk:
1. This notification is made pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 120.60(1).
2. On Date, Name's application for a concealed carry firearm permit was received by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services ("DOACS "). DOACS did not request any further information within 30 days of receipt of the application, nor did DOACS approve or deny the application within 90 days of Date, as required by Fla. Stat. § 120.60.
3. The application is thus deemed approved as of Date [90 days from receipt], and Name will immediately begin relying upon DOACS' default approval in exercising all abilities and permissions afforded by the license.
4. Please update your records to reflect that this license has been approved.
Sincerely,
Name
***
Attachment 2: F.S. § 120.60
120.60 Licensing.--
(1)Upon receipt of an application for a license, an agency shall examine the application and, within 30 days after such receipt, notify the applicant of any apparent errors or omissions and request any additional information the agency is permitted by law to require. An agency shall not deny a license for failure to correct an error or omission or to supply additional information unless the agency timely notified the applicant within this 30-day period. An application shall be considered complete upon receipt of all requested information and correction of any error or omission for which the applicant was timely notified or when the time for such notification has expired. Every application for a license shall be approved or denied within 90 days after receipt of a completed application unless a shorter period of time for agency action is provided by law. The 90-day time period shall be tolled by the initiation of a proceeding under ss. 120.569 and 120.57. Any application for a license that is not approved or denied within the 90-day or shorter time period, within 15 days after conclusion of a public hearing held on the application, or within 45 days after a recommended order is submitted to the agency and the parties, whichever action and timeframe is latest and applicable, is considered approved unless the recommended order recommends that the agency deny the license. Subject to the satisfactory completion of an examination if required as a prerequisite to licensure, any license that is considered approved shall be issued and may include such reasonable conditions as are authorized by law. Any applicant for licensure seeking to claim licensure by default under this subsection shall notify the agency clerk of the licensing agency, in writing, of the intent to rely upon the default license provision of this subsection, and shall not take any action based upon the default license until after receipt of such notice by the agency clerk.
(2)If an applicant seeks a license for an activity that is exempt from licensure, the agency shall notify the applicant and return any tendered application fee within 30 days after receipt of the original application.
(3)Each applicant shall be given written notice either personally or by mail that the agency intends to grant or deny, or has granted or denied, the application for license. The notice must state with particularity the grounds or basis for the issuance or denial of the license, except when issuance is a ministerial act. Unless waived, a copy of the notice shall be delivered or mailed to each party's attorney of record and to each person who has requested notice of agency action. Each notice shall inform the recipient of the basis for the agency decision, shall inform the recipient of any administrative hearing pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57 or judicial review pursuant to s. 120.68 which may be available, shall indicate the procedure which must be followed, and shall state the applicable time limits. The issuing agency shall certify the date the notice was mailed or delivered, and the notice and the certification shall be filed with the agency clerk.
(4)When a licensee has made timely and sufficient application for the renewal of a license which does not automatically expire by statute, the existing license shall not expire until the application for renewal has been finally acted upon by the agency or, in case the application is denied or the terms of the license are limited, until the last day for seeking review of the agency order or a later date fixed by order of the reviewing court.
(5)No revocation, suspension, annulment, or withdrawal of any license is lawful unless, prior to the entry of a final order, the agency has served, by personal service or certified mail, an administrative complaint which affords reasonable notice to the licensee of facts or conduct which warrant the intended action and unless the licensee has been given an adequate opportunity to request a proceeding pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57. When personal service cannot be made and the certified mail notice is returned undelivered, the agency shall cause a short, plain notice to the licensee to be published once each week for 4 consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in the county of the licensee's last known address as it appears on the records of the agency. If no newspaper is published in that county, the notice may be published in a newspaper of general circulation in that county. If the address is in some state other than this state or in a foreign territory or country, the notice may be published in Leon County.
(6)If the agency finds that immediate serious danger to the public health, safety, or welfare requires emergency suspension, restriction, or limitation of a license, the agency may take such action by any procedure that is fair under the circumstances if:
(a)The procedure provides at least the same procedural protection as is given by other statutes, the State Constitution, or the United States Constitution;
(b)The agency takes only that action necessary to protect the public interest under the emergency procedure; and
(c)The agency states in writing at the time of, or prior to, its action the specific facts and reasons for finding an immediate danger to the public health, safety, or welfare and its reasons for concluding that the procedure used is fair under the circumstances. The agency's findings of immediate danger, necessity, and procedural fairness are judicially reviewable. Summary suspension, restriction, or limitation may be ordered, but a suspension or revocation proceeding pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57 shall also be promptly instituted and acted upon.
(7)No agency shall include as a condition of approval of any license any provision that is based upon a statement, policy, or guideline of another agency unless the statement, policy, or guideline is within the jurisdiction of the other agency. The other agency shall identify for the licensing agency the specific legal authority for each such statement, policy, or guideline. The licensing agency must provide the licensee with an opportunity to challenge the condition as invalid. If the licensing agency bases a condition of approval or denial of the license upon the statement, policy, or guideline of the other agency, any party to an administrative proceeding that arises from the approval with conditions or denial of the license may require the other agency to join as a party in determining the validity of the condition.
History.--s. 1, ch. 74-310; s. 10, ch. 76-131; s. 1, ch. 77-174; ss. 6, 9, ch. 77-453; s. 57, ch. 78-95; s. 8, ch. 78-425; s. 1, ch. 79-142; s. 6, ch. 79-299; s. 2, ch. 81-180; s. 6, ch. 84-203; s. 2, ch. 84-265; s. 1, ch. 85-82; s. 14, ch. 90-51; s. 762, ch. 95-147; s. 26, ch. 96-159; s. 326, ch. 96-410; s. 12, ch. 97-176; s. 7, ch. 2003-94.
***
The Straight Dope on CCW Permits
There’s a lot of outright lies, ignorance, and disinformation occurring over at floridaconcealedcarry.com regarding Florida’s CCW permit, so let’s use this space to publish the truth.
Florida/DOACS has 90 days to approve or deny your application, per Florida Statutes § 120.60. There is no CCW exception to this law.
Florida/DOACS has 30 days from receipt of your file to request more information or to raise some protest about the sufficiency of your filing. So that you can prove when the clock starts running, always send your filing via Certified Mail, FedEx, or some other carrier that allows for verification of delivery. If Florida does not request any information or request a correction of your file within 30 days of receipt, your file is deemed complete, and you need do no more.
This business about the clock running from the date your check is cashed is outright rubbish, and I hope nobody squanders his rights believing such nonsense. I truly cannot believe anyone would say such a thing or that another would believe it, so bizarre and ignorant is the statement. If DOACS doesn’t request material within 30 days of receipt, they can’t request it, at all. If DOACS requests information after 30 days of receipt, their ability to request such information had lapsed, and they should be so informed.
If no request was made within 30 days of receipt, you are due an approval or a denial within 90 days. Florida is a “shall-issue” state, so the bar for denial is very high, and the State has to prove its grounds for any denial. You likely already know if you’re subject to denial.
If no request was made within 30 days of receipt of your application, on the 91[sup]st[/sup] day following receipt of your application, you are approved by default. Simple as that. You are approved whether or not you or the State wants you to be, and you are approved whether or not you tell the State “Nya, nya, I’m approved, suckers.” The statute forces State agencies to act within specified periods of time, and it gives an automatic “penalty” to State agencies for inaction. No hearing is required to make you default approved. Approval within time certain is your statutory right. You are well within your rights to hold the State to its own words.
To ensure that the State will not try any monkey business with your license by claiming a denial after the 90[sup]th[/sup] day, and to ensure that if you are caught with a gun on you after the 90[sup]th[/sup] day you won’t face jail time, it might make sense to inform DOACS that they blew the deadline, and you’re approved. Informing the State of its delay is done via a “Default Approval Letter.” A form for such a letter is appended, below, as I think I’m going to have to file one of these on this lethargic agency. If you intend to rely upon the default provisions of F.S. § 120.60, the statute demands that you place the State on notice that you intend to rely upon default in doing whatever is the subject of the license.
You must notify the agency of your intent to rely upon their default by serving a copy of your letter upon the “agency clerk” of the agency. Now, nobody knows what the heck an “agency clerk” is, and there’s nobody listed in the State Directory as holding such an office, but this matters little. A default letter sent via FedEx to the “Agency Clerk” of XYZ Agency will be received, and the agency will be properly noticed under the statute. Be sure to retain your tracking number, just in case. If it should occur that the State wants to deny your license, your Default Approval Letter would make a handy exhibit in a hearing, no? What’s better than moving to dismiss for lack of standing?
Now, here’s the difficult part. Let’s say you have filed your default letter, and you start carrying. Let’s say further that a cop stops you for Acting as a Freeman (a first-degree felony in the Bible Belt) and demands your papers. You whip out a copy of your letter to DOACS, and the thug in a costume laughs at it like the dimwit he is, arrests you and takes you to jail. See, people who wear costumed power are only impressed by costumed rights, i.e., the CCW Permit. Because of the letter, your attorney has a darn good “affirmative defense,” but these are only as good as the judge, and most judges are outright liars, substituting their own desires and worldviews for the law. A great many of them take orders from connected or powerful people, and you may be convicted in the clubhouse as the judge’s foursome is getting ready for the first tee.
Worse, Floridians have little love for freedom, and they make horrible jury members. Floridian juries believe that the judge is the source of the law and is to be believed regarding the law. Gun owners believe no such fairy tales and know that juries sit in judgment of the law, the facts, the judge, the cops, and the entire system. Know that many gun owners are born authoritarians and would love to see you buckle under the State’s lashes. Many gun owners, particularly those East of the Missouri, despise individuality and autonomy and loathe anyone who attempts to lighten his pack, claim his freedom or not act beholden to the will of another.
If you carry on a default license, there is a chance, perhaps a high one, that you’ll be convicted and serve time in prison. You’ll be absolutely right under the law, but our jails have thousands of innocent people in them. Prosecutors care only about winning, and never about right and wrong, legal or illegal. Anyone who thinks America doesn’t have political prisoners is naïve and sheltered. Think long and hard before carrying on a default license.
In the end, your rights are clear and definable. Whether you can actually access your rights in America is less clear. Insisting on freedom and governmental accountability in America is a dangerous business.
Disclaimer to placate any brownshirts who might be peering in: The above is a complete work of fiction and should not be believed by anyone, ever. While Police are entitled to blather about the law, I fully admit that citizens have no right to free speech, free discussion and free opinion regarding the law. The law is not for citizen reading or comment. The law is to be handed to us, and we are duty bound to obey it, without question. I am not admitted to the Florida Bar; these ideas are not offered pursuant to any representation, and you are, in no way, my client. If you want to know the state of the law, contact an attorney licensed in Florida.
…Or read the law for yourselves.
***
Attachment 1: Sample Default Approval Letter
VIA FACSIMILE (850) 922-4936 AND U.S. MAIL
Date
Agency Clerk
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0800
Re: Firearm Permit Application of Name
Agency Clerk:
1. This notification is made pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 120.60(1).
2. On Date, Name's application for a concealed carry firearm permit was received by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services ("DOACS "). DOACS did not request any further information within 30 days of receipt of the application, nor did DOACS approve or deny the application within 90 days of Date, as required by Fla. Stat. § 120.60.
3. The application is thus deemed approved as of Date [90 days from receipt], and Name will immediately begin relying upon DOACS' default approval in exercising all abilities and permissions afforded by the license.
4. Please update your records to reflect that this license has been approved.
Sincerely,
Name
***
Attachment 2: F.S. § 120.60
120.60 Licensing.--
(1)Upon receipt of an application for a license, an agency shall examine the application and, within 30 days after such receipt, notify the applicant of any apparent errors or omissions and request any additional information the agency is permitted by law to require. An agency shall not deny a license for failure to correct an error or omission or to supply additional information unless the agency timely notified the applicant within this 30-day period. An application shall be considered complete upon receipt of all requested information and correction of any error or omission for which the applicant was timely notified or when the time for such notification has expired. Every application for a license shall be approved or denied within 90 days after receipt of a completed application unless a shorter period of time for agency action is provided by law. The 90-day time period shall be tolled by the initiation of a proceeding under ss. 120.569 and 120.57. Any application for a license that is not approved or denied within the 90-day or shorter time period, within 15 days after conclusion of a public hearing held on the application, or within 45 days after a recommended order is submitted to the agency and the parties, whichever action and timeframe is latest and applicable, is considered approved unless the recommended order recommends that the agency deny the license. Subject to the satisfactory completion of an examination if required as a prerequisite to licensure, any license that is considered approved shall be issued and may include such reasonable conditions as are authorized by law. Any applicant for licensure seeking to claim licensure by default under this subsection shall notify the agency clerk of the licensing agency, in writing, of the intent to rely upon the default license provision of this subsection, and shall not take any action based upon the default license until after receipt of such notice by the agency clerk.
(2)If an applicant seeks a license for an activity that is exempt from licensure, the agency shall notify the applicant and return any tendered application fee within 30 days after receipt of the original application.
(3)Each applicant shall be given written notice either personally or by mail that the agency intends to grant or deny, or has granted or denied, the application for license. The notice must state with particularity the grounds or basis for the issuance or denial of the license, except when issuance is a ministerial act. Unless waived, a copy of the notice shall be delivered or mailed to each party's attorney of record and to each person who has requested notice of agency action. Each notice shall inform the recipient of the basis for the agency decision, shall inform the recipient of any administrative hearing pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57 or judicial review pursuant to s. 120.68 which may be available, shall indicate the procedure which must be followed, and shall state the applicable time limits. The issuing agency shall certify the date the notice was mailed or delivered, and the notice and the certification shall be filed with the agency clerk.
(4)When a licensee has made timely and sufficient application for the renewal of a license which does not automatically expire by statute, the existing license shall not expire until the application for renewal has been finally acted upon by the agency or, in case the application is denied or the terms of the license are limited, until the last day for seeking review of the agency order or a later date fixed by order of the reviewing court.
(5)No revocation, suspension, annulment, or withdrawal of any license is lawful unless, prior to the entry of a final order, the agency has served, by personal service or certified mail, an administrative complaint which affords reasonable notice to the licensee of facts or conduct which warrant the intended action and unless the licensee has been given an adequate opportunity to request a proceeding pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57. When personal service cannot be made and the certified mail notice is returned undelivered, the agency shall cause a short, plain notice to the licensee to be published once each week for 4 consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in the county of the licensee's last known address as it appears on the records of the agency. If no newspaper is published in that county, the notice may be published in a newspaper of general circulation in that county. If the address is in some state other than this state or in a foreign territory or country, the notice may be published in Leon County.
(6)If the agency finds that immediate serious danger to the public health, safety, or welfare requires emergency suspension, restriction, or limitation of a license, the agency may take such action by any procedure that is fair under the circumstances if:
(a)The procedure provides at least the same procedural protection as is given by other statutes, the State Constitution, or the United States Constitution;
(b)The agency takes only that action necessary to protect the public interest under the emergency procedure; and
(c)The agency states in writing at the time of, or prior to, its action the specific facts and reasons for finding an immediate danger to the public health, safety, or welfare and its reasons for concluding that the procedure used is fair under the circumstances. The agency's findings of immediate danger, necessity, and procedural fairness are judicially reviewable. Summary suspension, restriction, or limitation may be ordered, but a suspension or revocation proceeding pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57 shall also be promptly instituted and acted upon.
(7)No agency shall include as a condition of approval of any license any provision that is based upon a statement, policy, or guideline of another agency unless the statement, policy, or guideline is within the jurisdiction of the other agency. The other agency shall identify for the licensing agency the specific legal authority for each such statement, policy, or guideline. The licensing agency must provide the licensee with an opportunity to challenge the condition as invalid. If the licensing agency bases a condition of approval or denial of the license upon the statement, policy, or guideline of the other agency, any party to an administrative proceeding that arises from the approval with conditions or denial of the license may require the other agency to join as a party in determining the validity of the condition.
History.--s. 1, ch. 74-310; s. 10, ch. 76-131; s. 1, ch. 77-174; ss. 6, 9, ch. 77-453; s. 57, ch. 78-95; s. 8, ch. 78-425; s. 1, ch. 79-142; s. 6, ch. 79-299; s. 2, ch. 81-180; s. 6, ch. 84-203; s. 2, ch. 84-265; s. 1, ch. 85-82; s. 14, ch. 90-51; s. 762, ch. 95-147; s. 26, ch. 96-159; s. 326, ch. 96-410; s. 12, ch. 97-176; s. 7, ch. 2003-94.
***
