Transferee Permit Help

[EastSideRich]

I originally posted this question on The Firing Line and it was suggested I try here.

I bought a pistol about a month ago from a shop in Alaska. I jumped through the necessary hoops and filled out my application for Permit to Purchase a Handgun (I believe this is the same as a Transferee Permit) at the St Paul Police Dept over three weeks ago. As far as I can tell from reading Minnesota statute 624.7131

http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/ ... m=624.7131

they are supposed to grant or deny you a permit within seven days. I have called after 10 business days, which is what they told me to do if I hadn't received my permit by then. The lady at gun permits said "They were waiting to hear back from a couple of agencies". I have since called back twice and gotten the same response (most recent was two days ago) and was assured she would send these agencies (other police depts) a letter.

Here's where my BIG concern lies : While talking to this lady I told her I thought they were supposed to be processed in ten days - she said no. I asked her how long it generally takes, she said a couple or few weeks if you've ever lived outside of St Paul or have a criminal record (I've never lived outside Ramsey county, and have no criminal record -never even been charged with anything). I asked her how long it can take, she flipped through some applications she had "in process" and said she had some FROM FOUR MONTHS AGO!!!!
Also I don't think they gave me a receipt or any documentation confirming I applied, but when I've called the lady asks my name and supposedly has my application.

Does anyone have experiences like this with this state or St Paul specifically?
Can they even do this legally?
Should I / can I just go to the dealer where my gun is just sitting, waiting for this stupid permit, and apply for a transferee permit (one time transfer permit); I think I have read the police have to approve or deny this within five or seven days - and no reply I believe defaults to an approval.
Should I go back to the police station with a copy of this statute to see if it helps, or will this just irritate the lady, causing my application to suddenly "get lost"?

I am going crazy waiting for this G** D*** permit to show up and to pick this thing up.

Any advice or info will be greatly appreciated.

[BRIT_in_the_weeds]

Is Fletcher involved??

[gunshop guy]

Fletcher has nothing to do with issuing purchase permits. That is done by Chief Harrington. Tina Baribeau is the person who issues them in St. Paul. They are not required to issue them with in 7 days (to the best of my knowledge).

They can take the time they need. I would submit a request via e-mail to Tina and copy it to Chief Harrington to find out the status.

[Bullit]

Here is the web page of Ramsey County - it says they will deny or accept withing seven days.

http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/sheriff/GunPermits.htm

Other sites I visited state clearly that it is a state law that permits to purchase must be accepted or denied within seven days.

For what it's worth.

[gunshop guy]

I stand corrected. Here is the actual language from the state statute:
Subd. 5. Granting of permits. The chief of police or sheriff shall issue a transferee permit or deny the application within seven days of application for the permit. The chief of police or sheriff shall provide an applicant with written notification of a denial and the specific reason for the denial. The permits and their renewal shall be granted free of charge.

[cmj685]

OK guys, I lured this guy over from the Firing Line by telling him we had lots of good expertise here, so someone who knows these people and process give him a good contact and/or process to follow to force this permit out! And by the way dbl bbl daryl, welcome to the best MN forum in the whole state!

[Aceq2jot]

Between the lady taking vacation and sick time and being told they were waiting on info from North st paul it tokk 30 days. I called several times and even spoke with her supervisor and it did not speed anything up, and the supervisor has the final say on the application and has to sign off on it before they mail it out to you.

I suppose you could get an attorney and send off a snotty letter and pay more than a carry permit would cost, or just wait it out.

[Bullit]

Going back to the Ramsey County web site, they list a phone number to call if there are questions. Might be worth a try...

"Questions, please call 651-266-7300"

[EastSideRich]

First off thanks again cmj685. It's nice to be hearing from people who are in this neck of the woods.

For clarification : this is not a CCW permit, just a permit to buy.
It is being issued through the city of St Paul, they would not let me do it through Ramsey county ( I guess it needs to be submitted through the city in which you reside).
I don't know if I can or should say this, but the person I've been dealing with is Jill in gun permits. I get the impression she IS the gun permits dept. She seems nice enough on the phone I guess, but I am getting a little peeved.

I happened by two places today and this subject came up, or I guess I brought it up.
On my way to the range I stopped by the shop where my pistol is being held hostage to pick up some ammo and fondle my SIG (Oh my God, it's beautiful). In speaking with the guy behind the counter, he thought the time limit was ten days (I find it interesting there's so many different ideas on what this time limit actually is - but as I understand it from the statute linked in my original post it's seven days). He also said St Paul is notorious for taking a long time in processing these permits. He said usually other municipalities generally take only a few days. His advice: Just wait - and don't hold your breath; it'll come when it comes.

At the range the guy there basically said the same thing. He cited an example of a friend who lives in St Paul whose permit took six weeks give or take. He also said other cities usually take less than a week.

I guess I could press the issue, but I don't want to end up one of the applicants whose permit takes months to process due to irritating the person in charge, or is denied for some made up reason ( I know you can appeal a wrongly denied permit, but I'm sure it would be a major pain in the ass for me, not so much for them --- "Oh yeah, I guess we did make a mistake, sorry").

I think unless I hear differently from someone who was able to push things through with little or no hassle, I'll just keep checking the mail box for the next week or two and hope for the best.

I am still interested to hear if anyone else has had the same problems with this city.

[Thor]

State Law states SEVEN days. While it's not really specified, I would give them the benefit of the doubt and allow seven business days) However, it appears that several police departments/ sheriff's depts don't seem to care about state law. I really think it's time for those with legitimate complaints to take them up with the State Atty General. Perhaps if enough pressure was applied on the State AG's office, we MIGHT be able to get something done about this travesty. IF the State AG won't deal with it, I know a couple of state reps that will at least make the attempt.

I will also mention that we may have an ally or two in the media, Jason Lewis, for one. I'm sure there's other media personalities that wouldn't mind taking up this issue for the common good.

[1911fan]

Again MPLS routinely does it in under 5 days, Mounds view did my repeat one in less than an hour, My brothers was done in less than 3 days, For St Paul to not get it done in a week is a VIOLATION of state law, call you state rep and ask them to call the PD or call your alderman/councilman which ever is the proper MN term. IF they do not get it done, call the MN AG office and ask to talk to the consumer affairs people, they are usually very good about this sort of thing.

[Tee]

I applied for a PTP in August from St Paul, and it took 25 days to receive.

[Tabsr]

I would call the AG and complain. Plymouth took 9 days also called and apologized for the delay.

[cmj685]

So what I gather from the experiences here is that it is not at all unusual for the issuing authorities in many places to violate the law ...and they seem not to be too worried about it? This is more than irritating!

[hammAR]

So what I gather from the experiences here is that it is not at all unusual for the issuing authorities in many places to violate the law ...and they seem not to be too worried about it? This is more than irritating!

Yep, besides they are "Law Enforcement" so what ya gonna do.....................

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