Fee will be raised May 1st
(Lewis Co., Mo.) After May 1st it will be more expensive for residents of Lewis County to carry a concealed handgun.In order to pay the maintenance fees for the departments Live-Scan fingerprint system, the county will be charging 100 dollars for 1st time concealed carry permits.
33 dollars and 25 cents of that is the normal fee that goes to the Criminal Records Division of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The rest of the 100 dollars will go towards the fingerprint system.
"There was a big push by the federal government and the state government to get these live-scan computer systems in place," said Lewis County Sheriff David Parrish. "Especially in areas like our that have a US Highway or are a border state to kind of deal with terrorism, anti-terrorism response, immigration issues."
KHQA asked Parrish if he thought this charge would deter people from applying for a concealed carry permit.
"No, I don't think so," said Parrish. "Most other sheriff's offices in the state of Missouri have been accepting this fee. Originally we didn't take it and I have never gone back and changed that, but with the cost of the live-scan system I've had to."
The live-scan fingerprint system had been paid for by a Homeland Security grant.
That grant will end shortly with the nearly two-thousand dollar maintenance fees being left for the department.
No money will be kept by the sheriff's department.
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