San Bernardino County Sheriff Dicus announces new carry weapon permit office in Victorville

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department has announced the opening of a High Desert office for the public to process concealed carry weapon permits.

The new office is at the Victorville Court Services Division at 14455 Civic Drive on the northeast side of the courthouse.

The office will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, sheriff’s officials said.

Sheriff Shannon Dicus announced the new CCW location during a press conference Monday near Victorville City Hall and Courthouse.

‘The High Desert has grown exponentially over the last 30 years — it’s now home to over 500,000 people,” Dicus said. “Many of our residents live in remote areas and own businesses and want peace of mind by having a CCW.”

Streamlining the process

Previously, CCW holders could requalify at a local High Desert gun range but needed to travel to San Bernardino to complete their application, Dicus said.

Applications can now begin online and be completed in Victorville, with staff available for assistance.

All CCW permit holders must attend a mandatory eight-hour training course before issuance of a new CCW permit.

Renewing a CCW requires a four-hour training course before the issuance of a permit.

In the county, there are 11,000 CCW holders, with new applications coming in monthly, Discus said.

“It’s my commitment to increase administrative services and prevent our High Desert residents from driving down the hill to access these important Sheriff’s Department processes,” Dicus said.

Although the new office is not currently processing renewal requests, sheriff’s officials said they anticipate the service to be available in the coming months.

Victorville Mayor Debra Jones applauded Discus for his response to the needs of residents who want to protect themselves in “a law-abiding and responsible way.”

“This is a welcome resource to the High Desert region and for the people who want to protect themselves,” Victorville Mayor Debra Jones told the Daily Press. “Trained citizens are a great asset to the community.”

Discus said Apple Valley Gun Club President Tracey Graham and his organization are partners in the CCW process.

Graham said his club has “about 25 hardcore instructors” who are available twice a month to provide firearm training.

The Sheriff’s Department is authorized to issue CCW to county residents who qualify under California law.

To qualify for a CCW, individuals must be of good moral character, a full-time county resident, have valid identification, be at least 21 years old and own/have a gun registered in California.

Other requirements include not having any open criminal cases or pending citations, not being on active probation, and not having any felony convictions or specified misdemeanors per Penal Code Sections 29900-29905.

Gun study

One key and defining characteristic of gun owners is the extent to which they associate the right to own guns with their own personal sense of freedom – 74% of gun owners say this right is essential, compared with only 35% of non-gun owners who say the same, according to the Pew Research Center.

A recently released Stanford University study conducted over a 12-year period in California shows that adults who live with the owner of a handgun were almost three times more likely to be killed with a firearm than Californians in households where no handguns were present.

In addition, the study found people who lived with a gun owner and were killed in their homes were especially likely to die at the hands of a partner. Among the 866 homicide victims who died in their homes during the period studied, cohabitants of handgun owners were seven times more likely than adults from gun-free homes to have been killed by someone who ostensibly loved them.

"Protecting oneself and loved ones is often the reason for buying a handgun, but adults (particularly women) living with a handgun owner had a higher risk for dying by homicide than adults living in households without handguns," the authors of the study concluded.

The United States reported 20,794 gun violence deaths in 2021, up from 19,490 deaths in 2020 and 15,474 fatalities in pre-pandemic 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

For additional information and questions, visit https://wp.sbcounty.gov/sheriff/ccw-faq/ or call 909-473-3893.

Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: New concealed carry weapon permit office opens in Victorville