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“The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today.” -Seneca |
Two dates, not one
Every month I get calls from students whose permits expire in three weeks and who are just now looking for a class. We usually get them in. Starting this year, “usually” is doing a lot more work than it used to.
Here is the part almost nobody has straight. Your renewal runs on two separate dates, and they are months apart.
Six months before your permit expires, you can take the class. The 8-hour renewal course and your range qualification are good for six months. You do not have to wait until you are close.
Ninety days before your permit expires, you can file. That is when the Sheriff’s CCW Pro system opens your renewal application. Not sooner. And you need your training certificate in hand to file, which is exactly why the class comes first.
So the window you actually care about is 90 days wide, and you cannot even enter it without training you were allowed to finish three months earlier.
What changed
Effective January 1, 2026, the Sheriff’s Department is explicit about missing that window: “You are required to submit your CCW renewal application within 90 days of your expiration date. Failure to do so will require you to restart the process as an initial applicant.”
Read that again. Not a late fee. Not a grace period. You start over as a first-timer. That is the 16-hour initial course instead of the 8-hour renewal course, at initial-applicant fees, on the initial-applicant timeline. Years of holding a permit in good standing does not buy you a thing once the date passes.
Two more things landed on September 1. Every renewal now requires a fresh set of live scan fingerprints, $93 to the state plus the operator’s rolling fee, and a passport-style photo on a plain white background. No selfies.
The math nobody does
The Sheriff’s office takes roughly six to eight weeks to process a renewal. Your window is 90 days.
Do that subtraction. If you file on day 80 of your 90-day window, your permit expires while your renewal is still sitting in the queue, and you cannot carry while it is expired. You did everything technically on time and you still spend a month without your permit. File in the first two weeks of your window and none of that happens.
What to do this week
Go look at your permit. Not your memory of it, the card.
Expires in the next 90 days? Your window is open right now. Book a class and file as soon as you have the certificate.
Expires in the next 6 months? Take the class now. Put a calendar reminder on the day your 90-day window opens and file that morning.
Already expired? Call me before you assume anything. 619-871-9834.
Two years since you last fired that pistol
The most common thing I see at a renewal qualification is a good person who has carried responsibly for two years and has not put rounds downrange since the last time I scored them. The qualification is not the problem. The rust is.
An hour of private instruction before your qualification day is enough to knock it off. Indoor lessons in Kearny Mesa, or a private session outdoors in Escondido or Alpine. Send me a few days and times that work and how many are coming, and I will confirm your session personally. Book private training.
Upcoming Classes
SEPTEMBER
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2026 – 4:00PM
INDOOR RANGE, THE GUN RANGE SAN DIEGO (KEARNY MESA)
RANGE QUALIFICATION ONLY. About 30 minutes.
$60. Register here: Class Schedule | CCW USA
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2026 – 8:00AM
INDOOR CLASSROOM ONLY IN LA MESA
CONCEALED CARRY INITIAL, RENEWAL, AND DAY-1 OF THE 16-HOUR CLASS. Renewal students qualify separately on a Monday evening.
$249. Register here: Class Schedule | CCW USA
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2026 – 8:00AM
OUTDOOR PRIVATE RANGE ESCONDIDO
8-HOUR CONCEALED CARRY RANGE CLASS. Instruction and qualification the same day. You leave finished.
$299. Register here: Class Schedule | CCW USA
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2026 – 8:00AM
OUTDOOR PRIVATE RANGE ALPINE
8-HOUR CONCEALED CARRY RANGE CLASS. One day, start to finish.
$299. Register here: Class Schedule | CCW USA
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2026 – 8:30AM
INDOOR CLASSROOM ONLY IN EL CAJON
CONCEALED CARRY INITIAL AND RENEWAL. Qualification is a separate Monday evening.
$249. Register here: Class Schedule | CCW USA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2026 – 4:00PM
INDOOR RANGE, THE GUN RANGE SAN DIEGO (KEARNY MESA)
RANGE QUALIFICATION ONLY. About 30 minutes.
$60. Register here: Class Schedule | CCW USA
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2026 – 8:00AM
OUTDOOR PRIVATE RANGE ESCONDIDO
8-HOUR CONCEALED CARRY RANGE CLASS. Instruction and qualification the same day.
$299. Register here: Class Schedule | CCW USA
OCTOBER
Monday qualifications on October 5 and October 19. Classroom day in La Mesa on Friday, October 9. Full range days in Escondido on October 10 and October 24, and in Alpine on Friday, October 16.
Cannot give up a full day? The online renewal course is $249 at your own pace, then the same $60 Monday qualification. All three routes issue the same certificate.
Around the County: An Evening with Judge Roger T. Benitez
Wednesday, September 9, 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The Butcher Shop, 5255 Kearney Villa Road, San Diego. $150.
If you carry in California, you have been living inside this man’s rulings whether you knew it or not. Judge Benitez struck down the magazine ban, the assault weapons ban, and the ammunition background check law. His critics started calling him Saint Benitez to mock him. Gun owners kept the name.
San Diego County Gun Owners is seating a small room for dinner and a conversation with him about the Constitution and where this fight goes next. Not a keynote from a stage. Dinner.
We do not get many chances to sit in a room like that. If you can go, go.
Worth Watching: All 18 San Diego City Councils, Graded A Through F
Gun Owners Radio went through every city council in the county and graded each one on where it actually stands on your rights. If you have ever wondered whether the people running your city are on your side, this is the answer, city by city.
“Don’t look at the technique, or final action, look at the tenacity, the will, and the indignation that fueled the action.” — Tony Blauer
Check your expiration date today. Not next month.
See you on the range,
Bill Desy
CCW USA
619-871-9834
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Training is much more than – Bill Desy |
