Hundreds notified their NM concealed carry licenses are no good

Apr. 20—Six months ago, Santa Fe retiree Bob Clark underwent more than 15 hours of required training and paid $400 in costs so he could legally carry a concealed weapon in New Mexico.

Now, the state Department of Public Safety has notified him and more than 730 other licensees that they need a do-over after their DPS-approved concealed carry instructors turned out to have lapsed credentials.

The DPS immediately suspended the permits and privileges of 27 instructors after conducting an audit.

As for the students, DPS is giving concealed carry license holders 90 days to retake the classes free of charge, except for paying for the ammunition and range fees, if required.

But Clark told the Journal that enduring another three-day class to keep his four-year license isn't fair.

Clark faulted DPS for failing to check the credentials before giving the instructors the green light to teach the concealed carry courses.

"The only people who didn't screw up were us, the students who paid the money," Clark said. "We're the only ones who didn't do something wrong, yet they're putting the burden on us to correct it."

Are their concealed carry licenses even legal? Clark said.

DPS's Concealed Carry Unit didn't address that issue in its recent letter to Clark. Asked whether the licenses were now invalid, a DPS spokesman didn't directly answer the question when asked by the Journal last week.

"The applicants need to retake a course to meet the qualifications established in NMSA 1978, Sections 29-19-4 and 29-19-7," DPS spokesman Herman Lovato replied in an email to the Journal. "DPS cannot advise students to carry concealed weapons without meeting the requirements established in law."

Yet, the notification Clark received stated that "to maintain the active status of your concealed handgun carry license," he must submit "a new certificate of completion for the handgun training course on or before 90 days."

"Students who do not complete this training within the next 90 days will have their concealed handgun carry licenses suspended. However, please be advised that if your license is suspended after the 90-day grace period, you can always reapply, provided that you meet all the requirements ... including taking a training course from a department approved instructor."

But in that case, the student will have to foot all the costs.

Lovato said DPS discovered the issue during a "random audit of all certified instructor files." The 27 instructors failed to renew their credentials, he said, but up to eight have been reinstated or are pending reinstatement. About 13 instructors were pending revocation for failing to respond when notified in writing to address the lapse.

Under state law, an approved instructor seeking to renew his or her permit shall file with DPS at least 60 days before the date his or her permit expires. Aside from filling out an application, the state requires the instructor to provide course materials and "a list of all persons the instructor applicant intends to engage in any aspect of conducting a concealed carry weapons class."

"The process of credentialing instructors is important to confirm they have cleared a required fingerprint-based background check, have an active insurance policy as mandated and to verify the curriculum being taught has been approved by the department," Lovato stated.

The DPS website shows the contact information for about 316 instructors approved to teach concealed carry classes. A total of 44,474 people are licensed to carry concealed weapons in New Mexico.

Clark took his concealed carry course through Santa Fe Community College. DPS said a total of 29 students from the community college class were affected, with an additional 709 from around the state identified as needing to take the training again.

"For quite some time, I had been considering going for a concealed carry license," Clark told the Journal. "I thought it might not be a bad thing to do. But the thing that put me off all the time was that we had to take a three-day licensing course. Taking the course was discouraging me."

But he enrolled and learned about gun safety, conflict resolution, legal issues and where concealed weapons can be carried in the community and where they can't. There was testing at a firing range, where students were required to meet a certain minimum standard. Earlier, he said he checked with the state website to ensure his instructor was certified and DPS-approved.

He was dismayed to get the notification from DPS earlier this month and called the Concealed Carry Unit to say, "What's going on? I don't have three days to waste. And I've already been through it once."

Todd Lovato, Santa Fe Community College chief communications officer, told the Journal on Friday that as soon as the longtime instructor received the request from the Department of Public Safety Concealed Carry Unit to stop teaching the course because of the renewal issue, the college complied. Impacted students were provided full reimbursements.

Asked what triggered the random audit, Herman Lovato, the DPS spokesman, said, "An employee discovered an instructor had not renewed their license."

DPS didn't respond to questions about whether audits are regularly performed. Herman Lovato said as a "courtesy," DPS is notifying instructors 30 days before their permits are to expire "to avoid further disruptions to license holders."

Clark wrote a letter to DPS this week saying that students will still have no idea whether the instructors listed as certified by the agency on its website are actually in compliance and shouldn't have to conduct their own background checks.

"Your listing of an instructor, as a certified instructor, is proof to us that they have met the requirements," his letter states. "That you should cavalierly order us to have to waste three days of my (our) valuable time, additional costs and inconvenience, to rectify your Agency's negligence, is unacceptable!

"Considering the severity of the issue, the public safety implications, civil rights issues and how stringent your requirements are of applicants ... you have demonstrated the inability to administer this program," the letter stated. "I believe there needs to be an investigation to prevent this from occurring again."