Guy; I'll tell you up front that my approval process is not the one that is generally recommended; I managed an indoor range/retail store in Santa Clara for most of the 90's. We were also the local dealer for LEO weapons; H&K, FN, Bushmaster all the big name high speed low drag select fire stuff.
I first applied for my CCW via the SO's in 1997 I believe, and thought I had a pretty good chance of getting it.
- I was managing a retail gun store with a large number of firearms on premise
- My father is a retired, decorated Deputy with the same SO's I was applying to.
- I already have a security clearance from a previous job.
- Oh and I'm transporting machine guns in my own vehicle to the various LE Dept in the area for T&E, maintenance, etc.
No dice, they turned me down flat with a "insufficient good cause". That pretty much told me that there literally was *no* good cause statement that they would accept.
Then in July 1999 a dumba** punk kid that had decided that life was unfair attempted a take over robbery of the store; his plan was to steal guns and ammo from us, kill the three of us in the store, then drive to a local nightclub where he had been turned down for a job as a bouncer, kill everyone there he could before PD killed him or he killed himself. He detailed all of this in a suicide note/manifesto. Pretty messed up stuff.
Anyway as you can imagine his plan was *not* thought out very well (ie: when attempting an armed robbery of a gun store, it may be wise to factor in the variable that the employee's of said gun store, may, in fact, be armed themselves.)
After the ensuing loud noises and shouting he went to the nearest trauma center with his primary respiration system perforated, and I went home (eventually - man that was a long night) four rounds of .45 lighter. (two hits two misses on my part - meh, I call that a win.)
After all was said and done, the SO's decided that, yeah, maybe me having a CCW was a good idea.
Like I said, not the approved process.
