The VCDL is working to lower the concealed handgun permit (CHP) fees in the Commonwealth. Make no mistake, we do not believe that permits should be required to exercise any right! However, since current law requires a permit, we are working to reduce costs to the minimum required by law, which is $15.00 for Virginia residents.
The law establishing the CHP fee is clear: the fee is ONLY meant to offset the cost of administrating the process, not to pay for new police equipment, or to go into a slush fund, etc. The amounts were determined back when fingerprints were required, and criminal records were not available digitally. The process has become much more automated and the requirement for applicants to be fingerprinted has been eliminated, so the cost of processing a CHP application has declined substantially.
If you live in Prince George County, please sign this petition and share it with your neighbors. If you don't live in Prince George County, share it with friends, family, and co-workers who live there. Feel free to share the link on social media pages for the Prince George area.
Let's let the Sheriff know that by standing up for the rights of his constituents he's earning votes.
Petition to Lower the
PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY
Concealed Handgun Permit Fee
Whereas ยง 18.2-308.03 stipulates the fee charged for a resident concealed handgun permit (CHP) breaks down as follows:
- The clerk [of the court] shall charge a fee of $10 for the processing or issuing of a permit, including his costs associated with the consultation with law-enforcement agencies.
- The local law-enforcement agency conducting the background investigation may charge a fee not to exceed $35 to cover the cost of conducting an investigation pursuant to this article. The $35 fee shall include any amount assessed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation for providing criminal history record information, and the local law-enforcement agency shall forward the amount assessed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to the State Police.
- The State Police may charge a fee not to exceed $5 to cover its cost associated with processing the application.
- The total amount assessed for processing an application for a permit shall not exceed $50.
Whereas the fee schedule listed above was codified when fingerprinting for resident permits was required, resulting in additional expense to the locality, and,
Whereas the fee schedule was determined when the majority of records were NOT available in digital form, and,
Whereas the Prince George County Sheriff's Office has not documented the costs associated with processing the investigations, and,
Whereas the funds collected on behalf of the Sheriff's Office are deposited into the General Fund, and,
Whereas the time and labor to conduct the background investigation is significantly less than when the original fees were determined, and
Whereas the fee structure is mandated to only cover the cost of conducting these investigations, and
Whereas many localities have reduced their fees based on the facts stated above, and
Whereas no person should be required to pay a fee to exercise a right,
We respectfully request that the Prince George County Sheriff remove or reduce the fees charged to conduct the background investigation for resident CHP applications.
We, the residents of Prince George County do hereby submit our petition to lower the resident CHP fee to $15.