James R. Hall
Director, KC3

Regardless of how you feel about the license requirement, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky provides that the General Assembly may regulate the concealed carry of defensive arms. In 1996, they did just that with House Bill 40, the concealed carry bill. This legislation was applied to the Kentucky Revised Statutes in chapter 237 and here you will find all of the licensing requirements and restrictions for concealed carry in the Commonwealth. Among other things, paragraph two spells out the training required of all applicants.

The statute clearly specifies that training classes shall include “information on laws relating to firearms” and “the law of the use of force” as well as “instruction on handguns, the safe use of handguns, the care and cleaning of handguns, handgun marksmanship principles, and actual range firing of a handgun in a safe manner.” When this class has been satisfactorily completed, the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training (DOCJT), will send a nice certificate of completion to the graduate. This having been received, the applicant will take it to the sheriff of the county in which he resides along with sixty dollars, a photograph as prescribed, and most importantly, an application completed under oath. This application includes The name, address, place and date of birth, gender, and Social Security number of the applicant; a statement that, to the best of his knowledge, the applicant is in compliance with criteria contained within KRS Chapter 237; a statement that the applicant has been furnished a copy of KRS Chapter 237 and is knowledgeable about its provisions; a statement that the applicant has been furnished a copy of, has read, and understands KRS Chapter 503 as it pertains to the use of deadly force for self defense in Kentucky; and a conspicuous warning that the application is executed under oath and that a materially false answer to any question, or the submission of any materially false document by the applicant, subjects the applicant to criminal prosecution.

There have been recent revelations that a handful of instructors certified by the DOCJT have been filing fictitious accounts regarding the training of concealed carry applicants. An estimated 7000 concealed carry license holders are believed to have received the certificate of training and submitted it to the sheriff along with their application - without ever taking a class as prescribed by the law. Many of these people have been identified and the instructors who have been alleged to have facilitated this little shortcut have been indicted for mail fraud. Why mail fraud? It seems it was not specifically against the law to claim that someone was trained for concealed carry when they were not.

As pointed out above, it IS against the law to claim that you have received the training on an application for a concealed carry license, not to mention submitting a materially false document along with the application. Why then are these people NOT being prosecuted? Is it true what Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald Leader reported in a March 8, 2002 article alleging that “judges, prosecutors, lawyers and doctors” were some of the beneficiaries of this scam? The Big Sandy News [Susan Allen, Friday 3/8/02] reports that high-ranking elected county officials and notable Kentucky personalities have also received fraudulent training certificates. The excuse has been made that these people may have been misled about what the law requires of license applicants. Can anyone really be expected to believe that a judge could be misled about the law? How about prosecutors and lawyers? How about these people signing a statement, WHILE UNDER OATH AND THREAT OF PROSECUTION, that claims they were informed of the training requirement and that they are in compliance?

Roughly ten percent of licensed concealed carry holders are alleged to have obtained their license outside the law. We cannot allow these people to go unpunished. Our concealed carry law works very well and one reason is the necessary training, especially where it concerns firearms law and the use of force. It also has a lot to do with licensees being honest and law abiding. If we can’t trust these people to do the right thing and tell the truth about their adherence to the licensing process, how can we trust them to properly apply the law with regard to deadly force and work within the restrictions pertaining to concealed carry.

We know these people are wrong, they know they are wrong, all we need to do is convince the prosecutors to do the job we pay them to do.