Concealed Carry Hearing

Santa Fe, NM—The Department of Public Safety is announcing the legislatively mandated public hearing to discuss and review the proposed rules. The public hearing will be held on October 15th, 2003 starting at 9:00 am in room 307 at the State Capitol in Santa Fe.
The new rules and procedures will be discussed and when the rules governing instructors and the courses they teach are adopted, they will be posted on our website and available at all State Police district offices. Also available will be a list of approved instructors and courses as they become available.

Private instructors will provide the course work required by the new law which must be at least 15 hours of training to include both classroom and firing range instruction and a demonstrated ability by the applicant to safely use a handgun. Instructors must apply and file a copy of the course description and proof of certification with the Department of Public Safety Concealed Carry Unit. Applications will then be reviewed and the Concealed Carry Unit will make final approval of instructors.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens and residents of New Mexico. They must be at least 25 years old and must not have been convicted of a felony or other crimes involving violence or substance abuse. They must provide State of New Mexico identification and fingerprint cards for background checks. Those interested may request an application for a license from State Police District Offices or through our website at: www.dps.nm.org.
The new law allowing the concealed carrying of weapons went into effect July 1st, 2003. Those interested may start the application process now but licenses will not be issued until after January 1st, 2004.

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