Legal

I found myself in a bit of an awkward situation a few weeks ago. I’ve maintained a Florida Concealed Handgun Permit since before the turn of the century, first as a resident, then transitioning to non-resident status when I moved to Virginia around 2000. Virginia requires its residents to get their permit, so I obtained a Virginia permit as well.  Some years later, I found myself in North Carolina, and went through the process to get their permit.

North Carolina is stupid in one particular aspect. If a permit holder moves to a new county, they must go in person to the sheriff of their old county and request transfer to the new county. The law doesn’t spell out the in-person requirement, but all one hundred sheriffs require it, or did at the time I moved counties. Around that same time, I learned that they honor any permit from any state, resident or not, and this applies to North Carolina residents as well. Since the sheriff was being stupid, and since I held a valid permit from Florida, legally recognized by North Carolina, I told the sheriff to go pound sand. Not literally. I simply let the permit stay on file at its original location and expire.

I maintained the Florida permit, renewing it every seven years, as required. They always sent me the renewal package about ninety days prior to expiration, so I hadn’t given it any thought recently. Somehow, I had in my mind that it expired in 2025. More on that shortly.

Several months ago, my pastor invited me to join the church’s security team. We don’t advertise such, but some of us are armed. Virginia honors Florida non-resident permits, so in all my travels to the Commonwealth, I didn’t give it much thought. After joining the security team, though, I got to thinking that it would probably look better if I had a Virginia permit, regardless of reciprocity.

Shortly after starting the application process, I had an occasion to look at my current Florida permit. It expired in 2022. I’d been carrying illegally in both North Carolina and Virginia for coming up on two years. Oops.

Thirteen days from dropping the application at the post office, I had a fresh permit from the Commonwealth of Virginia in my hands, courtesy of a very efficient state police department.  I’m legal again.