Tag Archives: OR CHL

Oregon Out Of State Concealed Weapons Permit

by Woodsbum

This is a little off topic in some regards, but after some scouring of the Internet I found that there is a distinct lack of information about which counties will sign off on anĀ Oregon out of state concealed weapons permits. Most counties, especially in and around Portland, will not process them. According to Oregon law out of state residents are able to procure permits, but you have to find a sheriff office that will process it.

For what it is worth, there are several counties that do process them in southern, eastern, and around Corvallis. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a drive and a pain in the rear end since you have to be present during the application process for fingerprinting. This is when I stumbled upon Columbia County with the main offices in St. Helens. Apparently they not only process out of state permits, but they even show up at places like the Puyallup Fair to process applications. It also happens to be only a short drive (30 miles) from Portland.

There are a few things to note about Oregon’s concealed weapons application process. Not only do you have to show up in person, but you also need the following:

  • The actual application. You can get that here.
  • 2 letters of reference. The forms are here.
  • Compelling reason form. The template letter is available here.
  • Some sort of training. You can attend several different types to include online training, but if you were in the military and received pistol qualifications that are on your DD214 this qualifies. If you do the online course there is an additional form you have to fill out when you get to the sheriff’s office.
  • Be a resident of either California, Idaho, Nevada or Washington. They will only issue non resident CHL permits for residents of those states.
  • A copy of your current concealed weapons permit from whatever state issued it. For example, a Washington or Idaho concealed weapons permit.
  • $75 for the application per a phone conversation with their office staff. I also have seen where there is an additional $10 administrative fee, but I am not sure if the $75 includes that. Depending on the website, the total cost is either $85 or $75. Either way it is around $100 when you factor in fuel costs, so sell that to the wife if you have to budget.
  • Call the office and find out when the next available appointment is for processing applications. Their number is 503-366-4651. Normally applications are accepted and processed on the last Saturday of every month. Again, I would call to confirm because their website has not been updated.

Having dealt with many government organizations over the years, I went ahead and made copies of everything and put it all into a nice folder for ease of processing. The office will probably want to see the originals, but having the copies already made for them will hopefully help out the whole application process. I suggest anyone dealing with a government organization do the same and be completely prepared for any contingency. They are doing me this favor so I will make them have to work as little as possible……

I will be off to submit my application this Saturday. According to online accounts, it takes this office about 7-14 days for you to receive your actual permit. This is even better than many Washington departments, but again I have no hands on experience about this as of yet. I will after this weekend and will update this post as to how long it takes for mine.

I am really excited to finally get this process completed and procure my OR permit. It will make it SO much easier while traveling. If you find any more counties in Oregon (around Portland especially) that will process permits for out of state residents, please hit us up and we will include them here.

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