If you're applying for your CCDW and wish to track your progress or, if you have questions about applying for a Delaware CCDW, post here.
 #105829  by GatorDude
 
As everyone knows, the AG's Office has a statutory deadline to give their opinion regarding whether an application should be granted or not. However, the AG's Office never completes this in the allotted time.

I was speaking with Resident Judge William Witham from the Kent County Superior Court about this dilemma of people having to wait an inordinate amount of time for the AG's Office (when they have a statutory deadline). I asked how that could happen. He said essentially that "no one has brought it to the Court's attention." Translation is that no one has filed a motion to bypass the AG's Office, or deem the submission unopposed, if they exceed the statutory deadline.

For those that seem to wait forever for the AG's Office to process your CCDW application, you might want to consider either hiring a lawyer to file such a motion (or doing it yourself if you can). It would be very interesting to see what Resident Judge Witham would do in connection with such a motion.
 #105830  by pick_six
 
this happens in many places.

when i lived in georgia, folks discussed several of the metro counties that didn't want to issue permits, and would sit on them beyond the legal time length. like many places, the only teeth in laws bite the johnQ types, but do nothing to a .gov that fails to obey.

where i live now, they wait until 10 days before the time expires, issue, and let the permit float in the usps for a week. arriving on day 118 (of 120 legally permitted)

gun folks need find a pro-2a sugar daddy type to hire a a good 2a lawyer, or maybe a crowd funding machine to push a case or two. not sure how that would work in delaware... would the dems leg hall respond by changing the rules?

the crew in georgia founded by a couple pro-2a lawyer friends and started the GeorgiaCarry.org (edit***name correction) for the last 10-15 years they have been going to town attacking where there violatons. they have a pretty good record, and they have been getting some costs returned in the settlements.

Nevada recently passed some laws that basically told ALL .local.gov their reg's were null and void. state preempted all. NICE! the best part is that the law took effect immediately, but as of Oct 1 (or Nov 1, i forget which), if a .local violates the law, they may be sued for damages by the individual. prior to this law, the state did preempt, but there were not teeth. this has the attention of the locals, and laws/ordinances/rules/policies are falling. FAST!

guns are now allowed almost everywhere. (excluding the typical .fed .state .edu places, similar to most of the typical places).
 #105844  by California_Exile
 
dean wrote:How much time does our AG office have to respond to an application?
Interesting. I don't think the deadline is statutory. It's in Rule 6 of the Superior Court rules for dealing with CCDW applications. The AG's office may file a response within 30 days of the application being referred to them. The rule does say that if the AG doesn't file an objection, then the application is deemed unopposed.

The hitch here as I see it is that there's another Superior Court rule (coincidentally, it's Rule 6 in the main set of Superior Court Civil Rules) that allows a judge to extend the time to do anything prescribed by the rules. The judge can't extend a statutory period, but he can extend a period that's in a court rule, subject to some exceptions that aren't relevant. The judge can even extend a period that's already expired, if the failure to do the act during the period was the result of excusable neglect.

So if a motion to deem the application unopposed due to the AG's failure to oppose within 30 days gets filed, I can see the AG's office asking for more time on the grounds that they're overloaded and it's really, really important to make sure we don't issue CCDW licenses to bad guys. How that motion shakes out, I don't know. I would bet, though, that after the first time it happens, the AG's office will put in a standing procedure to ask for extra time in each and every case before the 30 days runs out, because the standard for getting extra time when the deadline hasn't already expired is "good cause," rather than "excusable neglect." I don't know how that request shakes out either, I'm just foreseeing arguments here.

Agree, it could be interesting to see how Judge Witham (or Judge Graves or Judge Cooch, in the other counties) would react.
 #105845  by dean
 
You could file this motion to bypass the AG yourself, yeah?

I'm sure it'd be better to have a lawyer do it but it seems like the worst that could happen is that you'd end up having to wait forever for the AG office as if you'd never filed the motion to begin with.
 #105847  by GatorDude
 
You are absolutely correct, California Exile, it is a rule and not a statutory deadline (I misspoke), The excusable neglect standard is not an easy one to satisfy (being too busy ain't gonna cut it). If you are too busy, you need to file a motion before the deadline expires (which the AG's Office may start doing if they get dinged). The public safety argument is certainly not enough by itself.

I actually happened to argue one of the cases in the Delaware Supreme Court on excusable neglect (and was successful) involving an attorney missing a deadline. It is definitely an uphill battle to win if you're the AG and you just let the deadline blow by....
 #105848  by SugarBoy13
 
If we are looking for a guinea pig, I will be renewing my license next year.

Do I really need to hire a lawyer to file this or is there a form of sorts I could use?
 #105849  by GatorDude
 
Chris,

You would have no reason to file any such motion since your CCDW permit is automatically extended and I am not sure that the 30-day period applies on renewals anyway.

The test case needs ideally to be someone who has a completely unblemished criminal background and the AG's Office doesn't express an opinion on the application within the 30 day period (thus holding it up from being considered by the judge on that fact alone).
 #105913  by dean
 
GatorDude wrote:Chris,

You would have no reason to file any such motion since your CCDW permit is automatically extended and I am not sure that the 30-day period applies on renewals anyway.

The test case needs ideally to be someone who has a completely unblemished criminal background and the AG's Office doesn't express an opinion on the application within the 30 day period (thus holding it up from being considered by the judge on that fact alone).
I've been considering filing an application. Maybe I'll be a guinea pig. What exactly would I need to fill out if I don't hear back within 30 days?
 #105917  by GatorDude
 
Essentially it would be a "Motion to Deem Application for Concealed Deadly Weapons Permit Unopposed by the Attorney General's Office"

If you have already filed everything necessary for the permit (affidavit of publication, course certificate, etc.), you could add: "Motion to Deem Application for Concealed Deadly Weapons Permit Unopposed by the Attorney General's Office and Ready for Consideration by the Resident Judge for Approval"