Greetings All,
I've been a lurker here for awhile and have finally gotten around to posting.

I followed with interest Pakrat's thread about Address change in Heppepin county as I moved my family on Dec 3rd. With moving, unpacking and the holidays I knew there would be no way for me to get to Hastings to fill out the required change of address paperwork in the 30 days the law requires. I decided to send a registered letter, similar to Pakrat's, to the Dakota County Sheriff.

On Dec 23rd, the Friday before Christmas, I recieved a phone call at work from the Sheriff's department. The woman (I think she identified herself as "Pat") said I HAD TO come down and fill out the change of address form and pay the $10 fee. I told her it would be "sometime next week" before I could do that and she said that would be fine.

It was Jan 10th before I had an afternoon off work and had the time to make the trip to Hastings. Not knowing what to expect I went in, filled out the highlighted portion of the form and paid the $10 fee. They also photocopied my drivers license and carry permit and sent me on my way. Before I left I was told I'd have my new permit in about a week and just destroy the old one after it arived.

Rather painless as far as dealing with goverment goes.

Hardly. They made you engage in some extralegal steps, and charged you a fee you needn't have paid.

The law is clear. They are reading into it something that is NOT there, and using color of law to enforce it.

Welcome aboard Rip

Andrew,
I don't care to rehash the debate on the Hennepin Co. thread.

I decided I wanted my new address on my permit and this was a simpler and cheeper process than changing my address on my drivers license.

Here on the forum endless rehashing of issues is what we're all here for!

For some folks, the cost of missing work to deal with this arbitrary extra step means a real loss of real money.

That aside, there's a principle: Bureaucrats don't get to make their own laws, and they need to be corrected (gently, if that works -- a bit more abruptly, if necessary) when they attempt to do so, lest they start getting used to it.

I'm pretty sure that the gentle method will have things resolved in Dakota County in the next couple of days.

I'm with Andrew on this one -- with an emphasis on making corrections gently, if at all possible. The idea isn't to embarrass somebody, or prove how smart one is, but to, well, make things go right.

Case in point: a reasonably senior LEO in a reasonably metro-area department (note the lack of identification; I'm not trying to embarrass the guy) recently took the position that a carry permit only applies to handguns, not long guns, and that the provisions of Minn Stat 97B do apply to permit holders, who could be arrested and prosecuted for violation of it.

I sent him a friendly email, introducing myself, and asking how he reconciled that with 624.7181, and provided a link. I explained that this wasn't just out of nosiness -- for some reason, a fair number of folks in the self-defense community bring these sorts of issues to me, and I'd like to be able to give them good answers.

He checked into it, found that there is, at least, some issue (even if 97B does apply, what do you charge a permit holder with for violating it, if you can't do it under the crimes specified in 624.714 and 624.7181?), and we exchanged a friendly email or two, a friendly phone call, and he's going to put the question in from of his city/town attorney, to get a formal analysis, which he's promised to share.

All in all, a definite win, I think. Big one? Probably not -- but political victories are made of multiple small wins at least as often as they are of singular big ones.

Same with the address change stuff. There's nothing wrong with you going down to get your permit adjusted, if you choose to -- but it's definitely in the community's interest that the sheriffs who have let their clerks and deputies act ultra vires (even in such a relatively small way) be, politely and in a friendly manner, of course, corrected.

Rip, that is your choice. No one is dogging you for your choice to get a replacement permit. Thank you for your report.

Obviously, Rip doesn't want to be an activist for this. One of the more Senior Carry Specialists (ha, just made that up), may want to send a note to this sheriff.

Side note that was not discussed in my thread on the address change: If you wish to purchase a gun with your permit to carry, the address will need to match your driver's license.

I see nothing in the law indicating that.

Maybe it was a requirement of the gun show. Lastgunshop told me when I bought a gun that the DL and the permit had to match addresses.

It's requirement from the ATF. Something to think about also is that same States require that your ID and permit have the same Address. So if thats the case if I go somewhere out of State with my ID and permit that don't have the same address. Will I go to jail?

The ATF has a rule about Minnesota permits to purchase? Coudl you show me where?

I will be looking it up. ATF tell us that all documentation must be current when buying a firearm.

STATE law determines which STATE permits are "valid," "current," and so forth. If the STATE law says no address change is required (as Minnesota 624.714 most certainly does - intentionally so), then no address change is required.

If the Minnesota Sheriffs push this, we'll go to a Missouri set up where the Sheriff gives you a background check certificate (presently available for free) and you take it to the DMV which issues a new DL (for $10) with a little "F" on it. That will kill their cash cow. Maybe we should do this anyway?

Having it on the driver's license would be convenient, however, that seems like it could promulgate more tracking of permit holders and an instant access database, if there isn't already one. I've had my suspicions about the BATF and their yellow forms for a long while. Katrina seems to have validated part of them. BTW, I quit memorizing form numbers 11 years ago when I retired from the Canoe Club.

Hell, yes -- I like all the fundamentals about the MO law, including complete acceptance of out-of-state permits.