I got a call from the LT Colonel in the State Patrol this afternoon. There is general apologize all around, they admit they failed and are trying to do better. They had 2 people involved with the processing quit at the same time etc. etc.
But the important point is they have filled the positions and are in the process of brining in part time temporary people to get this caught back up. They do ask that if you are coming up for renewal to please file early, you can four months before your permit runs out. They do not want anyone to get caught where due to their error they do not have a permit. They also are starting to send out the permits at 45 days wither they have completed the processing or not, they have never done this before and are just putting things in place to get that going.
So the good news is that all of you who are overdue for your first permit you should be getting one soon, wither they have completed their processing or not. Remember that if something shows up once they complete the checks they will be contacting you to send it back.
They will also be reviewing policies and procedures and if there is something that needs to be done Legislatively to fix this problem long term they will be contacting us to help write the bill to fix the issues.