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Jackson County: Shorter wait for concealed carry

Posted at 5:59 AM, Jan 22, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-22 17:32:04-05

Over time, many concealed carry permit-holders in Jackson County have come to know that patience is a virtue.

Kari Ingle, the county's concealed carry permit office supervisor, has dealt with many of them.

"There would be days that people would not even get into the building after showing up. It was on a first come, first serve basis [that] we went to appointments," Ingle said.

But when the time for renewals came around, the office got overwhelmed.

There were 21,000 concealed carry applications backlogged, and applicants weren't happy. The Jackson County legislature stepped up to help.

Last May, they approved more than $17,000 so the sheriff's office could hire more part-time workers.

"By far, we're getting more compliments than we've ever had," said Sgt. Dale Covey, with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

Now that the appointment wait time has been cut in half, applicants have to wait a little over a month instead three.

"With the work of the sheriff and the county legislature by giving us those extra three people it's been a tremendous asset to us, and it's also been a huge benefit to the entire county," Sgt. Covey said.

The other benefit: there are no longer backlogged applications.

"Mondays are very busy days on phones. Everyone takes classes over the weekend and then they call Monday morning wanting to schedule their appointments," Ingle said.

The office tries to do the best they can, but they can't satisfy everyone.

"We can't always give them the answers that they want. We can't always give the days that they want," Sgt. Covey said.

For more information, visit the Jackson County Sheriff's Department online.

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Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com

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