Hi...
After submitting my carry permit form by mail last week, I received an email that I had been approved for renewal.
Normally this requires me to travel to the county seat and go into the judicial center where the county sheriff office is located.
However, apparently the county has set up a satellite facility well outside the city limits where renewals can be done for those permit holders that would like to avoid the city.
There is an ongoing drug turf war in York, Pa. with regular shootings and murders on an almost daily basis, so I was quite happy to avoid going into the city to renew my permit.
The sheriff deputies at the satellite facility seemed very happy to be posted there on a monthly rotation basis and were very professional and congenial.
I was happy not to have to drive into the city, find a parking place and then walk to the judicial center unarmed as there are no firearms permitted in the judicial center.
Nice to avoid the risk of being carjacked or having my vehicle vandalized or being caught in a crossfire between rival drug gangs.
And, yes...all of those things have happened to people in the last month along with multiple homes and vehicles being struck by gunfire many times in broad daylight.
This drug turf war has been going on for several years. The police and city officials seem unable or unwilling to stop the gangs and the violence. Sometimes it seems like they are ignoring it. Nobody in the community seems to be willing to stand up against the criminal element including city officials, community and religious leaders or even the police. A person might suspect that they fear reprisals from the gangs if they speak out too loudly. A suspicious minded person such as myself might be led to believe that somebody or maybe many somebody's are being paid off.
As for myself, I live well out in the semi rural part of the county and have no need to travel to the county seat now that my carry permit can be renewed at the relatively new satellite facility.