I signed up here a year or more ago, but I think this might be my first post. I am starting a new career as an over-the-road trucker and stopped by to look at the reciprocal states map and to get some general info on transporting across state lines. Got all the info I needed and started browsing when I ran across this thread. Every time I see a thread like this, or read about the hassles that take place in most other states regarding how many, if not most, Americans have to beg the government for the "privilege" of paying to exercise God-given, "unalienable" rights, I thank my lucky stars that I made my home in Alabama almost 20 years ago. We do have to pay to exercise our rights here too, but it is minimal ($15 bucks in my county, $10 in others and $20 in still others), but we aren't saddled with training requirements or having to wait to get our permits. I walk into my Sheriff's Office, say I need to renew my pistol permit, wait for a couple or three minutes while they do a warrant-check, pay my $15 bucks and walk out with my permit in my hand right then and there. If I recall correctly, the first one I got back in '90 or so, I did have to wait 3 days for a cursory background check to complete. I was new to the state though, and that was also in a different county, so I'm not sure that short waiting period was a state-mandated one or just a policy of the local Sheriff.
Anyhow, I feel for y'all. I left CA to come here. A big part of why we left was the general contempt for adherence to the Constitution that CA lawmakers have displayed for several decades now. Not just about guns, but in general. That mindset has spread far and wide, and will probably infect Bama before it's all said and done too. But for now I am damned glad we landed here.
Good luck to all of us for having a free country to leave to future generations. We're gonna need it over the next 4 or 8 years.
Blues
EDIT: HA! Well, they say memory is the first thing to go! Funny, I can't remember what the second thing is! Anyway, this obviously wasn't my first post here. Haven't been participating on any forums for quite awhile now. Glad to see this place is pretty active. Take care.