PLEASE NOTE:
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TO APPLY FOR A FIREARMS LICENSE IN THIS COURT, YOU MUST BE 21 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AND BE A RESIDENT OF CHATHAM COUNTY. APPLICATIONS MUST BE MADE AT THE CHATHAM COUNTY PROBATE COURT. APPLICANTS MUST PRESENT A PHOTO I.D. AND PROOF OF YOUR PRESENT CHATHAM COUNTY ADDRESS.
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ALL PERMITS WILL BE SENT TO YOU BY MAIL.
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IF THE PERMIT IS DENIED, THERE IS NO REFUND .
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REPLACEMENT FEE FOR A LOST PERMIT IS $6.00.
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A COPY OF THE LAWS RELATING TO CARRYING WEAPONS IS $1.00.
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INFORMATION ON GUN SAFETY CLASSES IS AVAILABLE BY CONTACTING THE CHATHAM COUNTY POLICE DEPT. OR THE SAVANNAH POLICE DEPT.
ALL APPLICANTS MUST HAVE THE FOLLOWING (EFFECTIVE 2/1/2012):
1. Fifty two dollars and ninety cents ($52.90) MONEY ORDER or CASHIERS CHECK made payable to to Cogent Systems GAPS. Applicants registering online have the option of paying by credit card. (This fee is to pay for the fingerprinting and background check.)
2. $37.00 for Probate Court Fee. This may be either cash, money order or personal check.
3. The applicant must fill out the application in Probate Court and sign in the presence of a Deputy Court Clerk.
4. Fingerprinting will be done at the GAPS location which is at the UPS Store at 5710 Ogeechee Rd, Suite 200, Savannah GA (Phone: 912-238-2375) hours are M - F 11:00a.m. to 5:00 p.m., therefore you should be there no later than 4:30 p.m.
5. The permits are promptly issued upon receipt of the background check from the Chatham County Probate Court. The permit is valid for five (5) years.
6. You may apply three (3) months before your permit expires.
GAPS Fingerprinting Instructions
As part of your application for a Georgia Firearms (Concealed Carry) License, you will have to be fingerprinted at the GAPS location and you must follow these instructions carefully for this to be successful.
Applicants must register prior to going to the GAPS location. Fingerprint services will not be provided to applicants that have not registered. Registration may be completed online or over the phone.
- Online Registration is available 24/7 at www.ga.cogentid.com
- Telephone Registration is available at 1-888-439-2512 Monday thru Friday, 8AM to 6PM EST.
- If you register with GAPS and have your fingerprints taken before making your application, you should come into the Probate Court of Chatham County to complete the application within five business days after your fingerprints are taken at the GAPS location.
If you register after making your application, you should proceed to a GAPS location to be fingerprinted within five business days.
- You must register with GAPS before going to a GAPS location to be fingerprinted.
The steps are as follows for online registration:
- Log on to www.ga.cogentid.com
- Under the Registration tab, click on "Single Applicant Registrations".
- Complete the Registration Form by filling in all applicable fields. You must register using your full legal name, and the Registration and your Application must match precisely as to the name and all other fields completed in the Registration. Fields which are marked with an asterisk (*) are required fields.
Providing your Social Security Number is voluntary; however, the SSN helps distinguish persons with similar names and dates of birth.
- Under the Transaction Information section:
- For Reason, select Pistol Permit from the drop-down list.
Hint: typing p will take you to the beginning of the selections starting with "p"
If you are a retired law enforcement officer eligible for waiver of fees under O.C.G.A. 16-11-129(h), select Pistol Permit - Former LE Officer. You will be required to show proof of your eligibility at the GAPS location, and you will be charged only $12.90.
- For Payment, select either Credit Card or Money Order. Agency will not be accepted as a selection.
If you select Credit Card, another screen will appear on which you will enter your credit card information.
If you select Money Order, you must take a money order or a certified check for $52.90 ($40.00 for the FBI and $12.90 for the service), made payable to Cogent Systems - GAPS to the GAPS location when you go to be fingerprinted.
- For ORI/OAC, enter GA025023J
- For Verification Code, enter CCPC133
- Do not check the box next to "Does another agency make the Fitness determination?"
- Click Next, check the information for accuracy again, then click Next again to complete the process. The final screen will show your Registration ID number. Either print that page or write down your Registration ID number. You must have that number when you go the the GAPS location to be fingerprinted.
- Before logging off of the web site, go back to the Home Page; under "Print Site Locations",
Click on Identification Needed for Fingerprinting. You must take appropriate identification with you to the GAPS location.
Click on Print Locations & Hours to locate a convenient GAPS location. You may go to any GAPS location in Georgia.
The nearest location in Chatham County is:
UPS Store #5722, 5710 Ogeechee Road, Suite 200, Savannah, GA
Phone: (912)238-2375
- Go to a GAPS location to be fingerprinted. Take your Registration ID number with you. Also, you will be required to show proper Identification. You will be fingerprinted.
- It is possible that your fingerprints will be rejected by the FBI or GBI. Rejections are fairly uncommon for most people, but they do occur. If your fingerprints are rejected by the FBI or GBI, the Probate Court will be notified, and we will notify you. You must be fingerprinted again at no additional cost. You must obtain from us a printout of the rejection information to take with you back to the GAPS location in order to be re-fingerprinted at no cost. You do not have to re-register with GAPS. If the fingerprints are rejected twice, we must submit inked cards.
RENEWALS:
Renewals usually take one (1) month with the same requirements as #1, #2, #3 and #4.
STATES ENTITLED TO FIREARM LICENSE RECIPROCITY:
Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan,
Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming
LICENSING EXCEPTIONS PURSUANT TO O.C.G.A. 16-11-129(b)
(b) Licensing exceptions.
No license shall be granted to:
1. Any person under 21 years of age;
2. Any person who is a fugitive from justice or against whom proceedings are pending for any felony, forcible misdemeanor, or violation of Code Section 16-11-126, 16-11-127, or 16-11-128 until such time as the proceedings are adjudicated;
3. Any person who has been convicted of a felony by a court of this state or any other state; by a court of the United States including its territories, possessions, and dominions; or by a court of any foreign nation and has not been pardoned for such felony by the President of the United States, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, or the person or agency empowered to grant pardons under the constitution or laws of such state or nation or any person who has been convicted of a forcible misdemeanor and has not been free of all restraint or supervision in connection therewith for at least five years or any person who has been convicted of a violation of Code Section 16-11-126, 16-11-127, or 16-11-128 and has not been free of all restraint or supervision in connection therewith for at least three years, immediately preceding the date of the application;
4. Any individual who has been hospitalized as an inpatient in any mental hospital or alcohol or drug treatment center within five years of the date of his application. The probate judge may require any applicant to sign a waiver authorizing any mental hospital or treatment center to inform the judge whether or not the applicant has been an inpatient in any such facility in the last five years and authorizing the superintendent of such facility to make to the judge a recommendation regarding whether a license to carry a pistol or revolver should be issued. The judge shall keep any such hospitalization or treatment information confidential. It shall be at the discretion of the probate judge, considering the circumstances surrounding the hospitalization and the recommendation of the superintendent of the hospital or treatment center where the individual was a patient, to issue the license; or
5. (A) Any person, the provisions of paragraph (3) of this subsection notwithstanding, who has been convicted of an offense arising out of the unlawful manufacture, distribution, possession, or use of a controlled substance or other dangerous drug.
(B) As used in this paragraph, the term:
(i) "Controlled substance" means any drug, substance, or immediate precursor included in the definition of controlled substances in paragraph (4) of Code Section 16-13-21.
(ii) "Convicted" means a plea of guilty, a finding of guilt by a court of competent jurisdiction, the acceptance of a plea of nolo contendere, or the affording of first offender treatment by a court of competent jurisdiction irrespective of the pendency or availability of an appeal or an application for collateral relief.
(iii) "Dangerous drug" means any drug defined as such in Code Section 16-13-71.