To go or not to go??

[John347]

Hello everyone and hope you all are doing well!

For many years I have thought about getting my PAL and then for obvious reasons didn't go so I am here to get advice..

Going to make this short as possible...

GTA area

Back in 2007 (May) my grandmother died about 1 week later I said something really stupid to my sister in a verbal fight in which her and I do not get along at all and she called the police and they cuffed me for "Uttering threats" So they were going to release me in a promise to appear to court but my sister told them she was scared of me so they kept me in the slammer overnight....Next morning they sent me to the new fancy 5 star resort up north aka "club med" in which I spent the weekend there and on Monday I was driven to court in which case I had no lawyer and nobody knew I was in the slammer.....Anyways fast forward 10days later get to court with a lawyer charges read to the judge she laughed and said this is a total waste of time for me to have been brought through all this as a first offence at the age of 27 with NO criminal record and she gave me a list of things I had to do like not enter the city of Vaughn for 1year,not own explosives, not own firearms,etc.... One of the conditions were not to apply for a firearms license for up to a certain amount of years 3,5,7years or something like that even if it were 10 years I am passed that due date now.

So my question is this...... Should I attempt to go for it or not? Again this is (was) my only real run in with the law? Any advice is welcomed!

[Still alive]

If you have been clean since the incident, I would definitely give it a try. You've passed all the requirements and restrictions already.
The worse case is you lose $200 from the course and the application fee for your R/PAL. But if you don't try, you'll never know.
And don't use your sister as a reference!!
Also, answer all the questions on the application honestly. You may get an interview request from your CFO. There are many people with worse things in their past who have gotten their PAL. Good luck!

[John347]

Yeah I downloaded and printed off the questions sheet (8 of them) and started to fill them in. Section 16 clearly states 5 years and I know I am clean and everything in the boxes is crossed out as "no" as for my sister I have not spoken to her since 2007 and feel it's for the best.

Do they just check criminal history/run in with police/job loss and that's all? What about social media? I only have twitter that I just got up and running this May 2017 lol other than that I don't really use social media.

[Still alive]

The CFO will do a background check and may contact your references. In fact, have your references contact them after the required 28 day wait period. This can speed up your application.
I do not know the level or thoroughness of the checks. I doubt this info is general public knowledge. As for social media, no clue either but it would not surprise me if they look at that stuff also. Just don't post stuff you may regret!

[John347]

I would have thought that is you called right after the 28day period it would make them upset..... Also I am not one to ask for someone to call the CFO I don't mind the wait.

[MistahSpock]

I would have thought that is you called right after the 28day period it would make them upset..... Also I am not one to ask for someone to call the CFO I don't mind the wait.

We're just numbers to them, and your file won't stick out much more than anyone else's. I've had to do character references for a couple jobs and I never minded people calling in. Saved me the trouble of getting voicemail and playing phone tag.

[nien]

Go for it. I got mine and RPAL, you will be fine.

[John347]

Alright so I took the Non-Restricted course Friday and today with the written test and hands on and passed!!! Sunday I go for the Restricted and then wait until I get the paper work in the mail then send it out and wait! For someone who has never held a firearm in my life I got 100% on the hands on and 96% on the test! Yay me! Will keep this updated!!!!

[Jay]

Good luck John347.

Cheers
Jay

[John347]

Update.

**Took class for NR&R on OCT-13,14,15-2017**

After calling to get my test results stamped which were done (NOV-09-2017) BUT never sent out until I called close to DEC-20-2017 and only my NR one was sent out I had to call yet again to get my R one sent out only to get in at the midpoint of JAN-2018.... I am really upset in the poor work that is being put towards this. I no longer care at this point if I do not get approved since they have really dropped the ball on me with the paper work. Now that everything is sent out I will wait another 80 months before I get any feed back... will update again in about 80 months time.