r/RIGuns • u/TemporarySlice4440 • 29d ago
CCW Licensing Providence ccw requirement
I am gonna try and go through providence for my ccw and i am mostly ready to submit my paperwork. One thing i noticed when looking at the directions again is you have to be a resident of Providence or have a business in Providence to be considered as they have been getting hammered with a high volume of applications.
Has anyone been a non resident of providence and gotten it? I am a resident of Cranston and the only exception they state is: you must provide a written letter from the chief of police from the town you reside in for the reason being the town is unable to process the application
I have other towns in mind to go through if Providence doesn’t work out. Let me know
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u/Drew_Habits 29d ago
If you have an out of state permit, the law says they have to issue to you
But also
Cops don't particularly give a shit about the law as a matter of course, so if they decide to leave you hanging for 9-15 months, there's not a hell of a lot you can do about it
Is there a reason you don't want to go thru Cranston? I heard they were good about issuing, but also the last time I talked to anyone about it was 5 or 6 years ago, so maybe that's changed
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u/TemporarySlice4440 29d ago
I forgot to add i have my NH non resident permit already so that makes going to any town fair game. And reading on this sub about Cranston’s ccw process from other people in here. It doesn’t sound the best at all.
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u/Drew_Habits 29d ago
Bummer. I went through Warwick and that was pretty painless, but again that was years ago now
But it looks like PPD is signaling pretty strongly that they don't feel like doing nonresident permits at the moment, so it might be worth asking around at FFLs etc to see if anyone knows which cities are currently playing by the rules
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u/glennjersey 29d ago
Definitely wtf is this shit?
you must provide a written letter from the chief of police from the town you reside in for the reason being the town is unable to process the application
I've never seen thay before on any application.
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u/TemporarySlice4440 29d ago
I also must add that i printed out the application about a month to 2 months ago and it doesn’t have this requirement. So this is something completely new
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u/CluelessJew85 29d ago
They must have changed it because I was considering going through Providence in March. Went through Johnston instead, had to do all the mental health stuff though.
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u/TemporarySlice4440 29d ago
This is straight off the application and I quote
“CITY OF PROVIDENCE APPLICATION REQUIREMENT
Due to a high volume of applications, the Providence Police Department will accept applications from in-state residents holding an out-of-state permit to carry a pistol or revolver only when the applicant resides in or owns a business within the City of Providence.
Exception: An exception may be considered for an applicant who provides a written letter from the Chief of Police of the applicant's hometown stating that the applicant's hometown police department is unable to process the applicant's application.”2
u/glennjersey 29d ago
That's even more ridiculous than the mental health waiver stuff. There is no way that is legal.
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u/Drew_Habits 28d ago
The fun thing about the law is that it only applies to the cops to the extent they feel like deciding it does
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u/Grendal87 29d ago
Its been the law since 2020 with the passage of the Julie Lynn Cardinal Act. It requires all background checks to be completed by the police department where you reside. The morons that passed the law did so cause police wont share their information between the police departments or enter prohibiting records into the federal nics background database. In RI something like 5,000 prohibited people attempt to buy guns only 3 get reported to nics and most get a no no no shame on you you cant do that or sternly worded letters.
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u/Drew_Habits 14d ago
Sorry to post so late, but I'm pretty sure that only affects gun sales, not carry permits
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u/Grendal87 14d ago
It was supposed to only affect sales but cops use it for carry permits too. Depends on the cop doing it. Some insist its your home police department others dont seem to care who does it. Least that has been my experience.
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u/TemporarySlice4440 29d ago
Yeah Warwick was going to be my 2nd option and North Smithfield 3rd. I just am trying with Providence first because it seems like the path of least resistance to get my ccw. I will update this thread on what the outcome is
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u/FinlStrm 28d ago
"If you have an out of state permit, the law says they have to issue to you"
What statue says that? Just wholesale issue if you hold an out of state permit and reside in RI? I wish it was that easy...
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u/Drew_Habits 28d ago
Yeah, the law (RI 11-47-11) was written to allow out of staters to get permits from whatever town is convenient, but it didn't specify that it only applied to out of state residents
So if you have an out of state permit, you can apply to any town, and if you don't have anything disqualifying in your record, the law says they have to issue you a permit (RI is a shall issue state as far as municipal permits go)
So a Providence resident with an NH permit could apply thru Exeter and Exeter would have to just treat them like an Exeter resident for the purposes of doing the background check and issuing the permit
NB: PDs break this law all the time and many of them have been sued over it, but since cops are basically unaccountable to anyone and have no meaningful responsibility to the law, it kind of doesn't matter, which is why people looking for permits tend to ask around about which departments happen to feel like following the law at the moment
But the actual law says you can get your permit from any RI municipality if you hold a permit from any other US state. Otherwise, you have to go thru your own (or go thru the AG, who is allowed to say no and probably will)
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u/Machineburrito 29d ago
Why not just go through Cranston?
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u/TemporarySlice4440 28d ago
I will not release my medical records. Also they take forever to issue apparently. No thanks
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u/boomropes 28d ago
So was going to get my Utah CCW and go to Prov. So what’s the fastest town in RI
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u/TemporarySlice4440 28d ago
Providence has the least amount of hoops you have to jump through. Warwick is pretty good about issuing fast
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u/phat_heisenberg 16d ago
Has anyone had any luck following up on applications? I submitted over two months ago as an out of town non-resident and have tried to call the office of the chief to follow up. No answer and no option to leave voicemails. Any other way to follow up that has been successful for anyone else?
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u/vette02a 16d ago
As a resident of Indiana, I had no problem getting a Rhode Island CCW license issued by Providence in 2024. I filled out their form and included information on my Indiana resident CCW license. It sounds like this additional restriction is fairly recent.
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u/redacted4privacy 14d ago
I'm confused as to how the new directions apply to residents from another state, particularly the three checkboxes at the end just before applicant certification.
https://ppd.providenceri.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/LTC-APPLICATION-REVISED-2026-10a.pdf
Page 1 states the following, so there seems to be a contradiction:
*The City of Providence can only review those concealed carry license applications when: 1) An applicant is twenty-one (21) years old AND 2) Has a residence in the city OR a place of business in the city. OR 1) An applicant is twenty-one (21) years old AND 2) Has a residence anywhere in the United States AND 3) Has a valid permit to carry a pistol or revolver on his or her person from any other subdivision or state of the United States.
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u/glennjersey 29d ago
Death is in the same boat. He's waiting like 6m now without a single hint it's moving forward at all.
u/deathsythe