Fayette County.

From Jason Gain on June 23, 2000:
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I got a non-resident CCW from Fayette County yesterday. About two weeks ago,
I sent a letter to the sheriff, explaining that I was a CCW permit holder
from West Va. and that I visited PA often and wanted to carry. I received
a reply from one of his clerks explaining that I needed to apply in person,
bring my WV CCW, my drivers license, and a $5 application fee. The letter
went on to state that if the app was approved that it would be an additional
$14. I went to the sheriff's office yesterday, asked for an application, and
showed my WV CCW and driver's license. The clerk, obviously a different one,
stated that you had to be a PA resident to get a CCW permit. Luckily, I
brought the letter along and showed it to her. The clerk who had written the
letter was out to lunch, as was the sheriff (at 2:30pm?). She said she would
let me apply, but she was "pretty sure that I couldn't get a gun permit". I
filled out the application, paid $5 and was told that I needed a 2X2 
photograph in order to apply. I again showed her the letter, and pointed out
that nothing in there said that I needed a photograph. She said that she was
positive that I needed a photograph and that my driver's license photo wasn't
good enough It needed to be a glossy 2X2.....sigh. She said just to take the
application with me and return it when I got the photo. I told her that I
wanted the permit THAT day, to which she replied, "Oh my goodness, no, it
takes 45 days for a new application to go through". I asked her why the 10
other people who had applied for new permits around me were being approved 
instantly. She told me that was because they were residents. By this time I
knew that she was totally confused. So, I went to the Uniontown mall and
invested 2 dollars in one of those little photo booths. I took that picture
back to the sheriff's office hoping that the sheriff would be in. When I
returned both the sheriff and the clerk who sent me the letter were back from 
their "late lunch". I submitted the app with the photo and was approved in 
less than 10 minutes. The other clerk who gave me all of the problems didn't
even talk to me. She was probably embarassed from her total lack of
information. And after all of the hassles with the photo, I got a permit
with the words "valid with photo" where it looks like a picture should be.
I got the same 3"X 5" piece of paper that everyone else talks about, but
they reduced it to wallet size and laminated it for $4. So, I 
finally got the permit. Also, I would like to stress the importance of
talking to people in the sheriff's office who actually know what they're
doing. Making an appointment with the sheriff is the BEST idea. An even
better idea would be for the state of PA to issue a clear set of guidelines
to counties on procedures to issuance to non-residents to avoid all of
this confusion... 
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