Tulare County Sheriff posts letter to Governor on social media standing with CCW permit applicants

TULARE COUNTY (KFSN) -- A South Valley sheriff said he's standing up for the people of his county, and all of California, by fighting a new state bill that could increase fees for a particular kind of gun licenses.

The Tulare County Sheriff's Office has rows of concealed carry weapons license applications to process. Add one more, because Phillip Walker just applied for his.

"More of my friends have been doing it also, and it just felt like the right time."

Walker was reminded he had the CCW paperwork sitting on his desk when he saw this Facebook post that included the letter Sheriff Mike Boudreaux sent to Governor Jerry Brown earlier this week. Boudreaux urged Brown to veto Assembly Bill 450.

If the governor signs it, the bill would eliminate the $100 maximum fee rule that issuing agencies, like the Sheriff's Office, can charge for processing a new license.

In the future, it would require that fee to also include the cost of issuing and enforcement of the license. Meaning the cost to get a CCW license could rise.

The sheriff said the law could price some people out of getting a license.

"When you have such an increase in ammunition and the taxes on ammunition, and now the increase in the fees for the applications in the conceal weapons permit process, it's chipping away at the very core of who we are as a country."

Walker agrees with the sheriff. He said owning a gun is an American right and a law like this could infringe on that right.

"You make anything a higher price, it's going to price people out of market. Whatever that product or service might be and I think it's kind of evident that that's probably the intent to some degree is to make it a little more difficult to acquire."

Sheriff Boudreaux said the law would also open the floodgates for further gun restrictive legislation. He sees this bill as another example of big government trying to tell little government what to do.

"You know, our second Amendment is constantly being attacked with a variety of things. But for the Governor to swipe with a pen, to give the address as to who and the amount of which is charged to those really needs to rest with local government."

Even if the Governor doesn't agree with the Sheriff's stance, many in Tulare County do.

As of Friday afternoon, the letter had been shared on Facebook more than 400 times.

The bill hit the Governor's desk on September 8th. In case you're curious, the total cost for a CCW here in Tulare County, including DOJ fees, is $191.