Tennessee Handgun Carry Permit Issues
Per the TN Department of Safety, they now require proof of citizenship. There’s also this bit:
A permit holder can submit a Renewal Application at any Driver License Center or renew by mail. To receive a renewal application by mail call 1-866-849-3548. The renewal application must be complete and signed by the applicant. The application, CERTIFIED PROOF of U.S. Citizenship or Lawful Permanent Residency (no photocopies; documents will NOT be returned) and the $50.00 fee payable by check or money order, can be mailed to the following address
So, basically, you can no longer renew by mail? Call your reps.
Update: In comments, Vance points out:
I read this to mean they want a certified copy of your birth certificate, which you can get for $7-$12 from the Tennessee Department of Vital Statistics,which just makes it a little more difficult, not impossible.
A certified copy is still copy, so I dunno.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I read this to mean they want a certified copy of your birth certificate, which you can get for $7-$12 from the Tennessee Department of Vital Statistics,which just makes it a little more difficult, not impossible. However, one would think the Tennessee Department of Safety and the Tennessee Department of Vital Statistics could work together to verify citizenship without the middleman (you and I)having to pay for a certified copy from one state bureaucracy and give it to another.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Could be. Though it does say no photocopies.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:28 pm
If this was re: your right to vote, the “civil rights” advocates would go crazy, but since it involves our RIGHT to CARRY ARMS for self-defense (Article I, Section 26, Tennesssee Constitution)…they don’t care nor do they care about those rights that are violated in the gun permit process and requirement (4th and 5th Amendments).! I think this is otherwise called discrimination, prejudice and bigotry.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:39 pm
no photocopies? documents will not be returned?
have these people ever seen a green card? nobody in their right mind would give theirs away thinking they’d never get it back. any “certified copy” of it you could possibly provide would be a notarized, ahem, photocopy, by necessity. thing’s a credit-card-sized piece of plastic with more holograms and magstripes and thingummys than you can shake a stick at. no photocopy can possibly reproduce all of a green card’s security features, but the INS is damn sure not gonna give you a spare either.
similarly for a naturalization certificate, except you can get official duplicates of those. takes ages to get the request for such a one processed, and they’re not cheap, but at least i guess it’s possible.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
to clarify… a naturalization certificate is just a piece of paper with your photo and an embossed stamp. but it’s still one of those documents that, once you’ve got it, you’d have to be bloody daft to just give away if you couldn’t easily get it back, is what i meant.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:51 pm
If I recall correctly, when I got my permit last year I had to do this. Also had to do it the last time I renewed my license about 3 years ago.
This was directly related to Sundquist’s policy of letting “undocument” persons obtain drivers licenses. Now they have to have everyone prove citizenship again since people where using the drivers licenses to obtain all sorts of things.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:53 pm
This fucking sucks.
August 1st, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Just a wonderful way to try and further support the notaries here in Tennessee. After all, as already has been stated, a “certified” copy is nothing more than a photocopy that was made and embossed by a notary.
Glad my paperwork is already in the pipeline…
August 1st, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Oh, and I guess passports are no longer acceptable as proof of citizenship? Funny…
August 1st, 2008 at 4:23 pm
didnt you have to show proof of citizenship to get the original?
are they afraid that has changed since then?
August 1st, 2008 at 5:55 pm
In Texas, a person is limited to a lifetime maximum total of “official” copies of birth certificates. I think that number is less than 10. So if you need a few for passports and schools, then you will quickly run out when it is time for a carry permit. You are SOL if you can’t get the official document from the state, and the state won’t issue a new one, or return one they don’t need anymore.
If they keep an original copy, then why do you have to turn in another one when it is time to renew?
Seems that they should just not give any United States or state government ID to illegals, but what do I know.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I’m going to write them and ask them to clarify it. I suggest everyone else do the same. After a few hundred inquiries they might have enough sense to put something on their site that makes sense. I suspect that an official copy of a birth certificate or a notarized passport copy would work. However, the way their site reads it sounds like they expect to be given the original (which they won’t be returning).
August 1st, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Passports are acceptable. I turned in my application mid-June and the drivers license station made a photocopy. The big thing now is the wait. When I went thru the carry course I was told that applications are up 400% this year and the wait for a new permit is right at 90 days. It seems to be even worse for renewals. I’ve heard of people who sent theirs in March and April who still haven’t gotten it back. The website says you can apply for renewal up to 6 months in advance. You might not want to wait too long before your old permit expires.
August 4th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Though it does say no photocopies.
It says no photocopies, not no official copies.