As riots in cities around the country have made residents and business owners increasingly uneasy, many of them have noticed how the police aren’t responding quite so quickly to 911 calls these days. This has led to a huge surge in new, frequently first-time gun purchases in our larger metropolitan areas. We’ve already seen the hilarious results when people who previously supported all manner of gun control laws go shopping for a firearm and are shocked and dismayed at how long it takes to purchase one legally under these laws. Still, many of them have navigated the maze and eventually been able to purchase their first firearm.

Now, however, many of these same people are learning that the purchase was only the first step in a long process imposed by liberal governments in their home cities. Once you have your first firearm at home, particularly if it’s a handgun, what do you do with it next? The streets are less safe both for pedestrian and vehicular traffic, so you’ll probably want to bring your new firearm along with you, right? But that requires a separate permit, particularly if you want to carry it concealed. After all, when the rioters are trying to pull you, your spouse or your children out of your car, a gun isn’t of much use if it’s locked in a gun safe in the trunk or, worse, back at your house.

That process of obtaining a permit can take an excruciatingly long time. This is particularly true in Philadelphia, where the office that handles permit requests is currently only allowing applicants to submit an application by appointment. And those appointments are only being offered as much as a year or more in advance. (Free Beacon)

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Philadelphia residents say the city is forcing them to wait months to apply for gun-carry permits—far beyond the 45-day window required by law—at a time when gun sales are surging in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and widespread rioting.

The delays have left some Philadelphians fearing for their safety. James Tordella, a medical supply salesman, is caught in the permit backlog. He was not surprised when basic services in the city faltered during the pandemic, but did not think dysfunction would apply to his attempt to exercise his Second Amendment rights.

“S—’s not easy in Philadelphia,” Tordella said. “I’m not sure the city is actually trying to stomp on my rights—they may just be grossly incompetent.”

What’s happening in Philadelphia right now appears to be patently illegal, but the government is getting away with it. As noted in the excerpt above, current laws require the city to respond to a carry permit request within 45 days. But they’ve found a devious way around that. You aren’t allowed to even submit the application for the permit until you are granted an appointment to do so.

One Temple University law school alum reports that he tried to apply for a permit for a new new handgun and it took him weeks to get through to the Philadelphia Police office where such requests are handled. When he finally did, he was told that the first available appointment was in January of next year. His daughter was similarly seeking to obtain a permit and her appointment is scheduled for February.

But those aren’t even the worst horror stories. An insurance salesman from South Philly was told that the first available appointment to apply for a permit would be in August of 2021. Others reported similarly long waits. The waiting period for a permit application submission is substantially lower in some of the suburban counties outside the city. This has led to at least some new gun owners considering moving out to those counties just to get their permits processed while hopefully getting further away from the unrest in the streets.

While I don’t want to take any joy in anyone else’s misfortune, this looks like a serious case of karma coming around to bite people where the sun doesn’t shine. They helped create this system where you have to jump through an untold number of hoops in order to legally purchase a firearm and obtain a permit to carry it. Now those hoops are totally gummed up by a combination of the pandemic, cuts to the police departments that have to process the requests, and the rioting in the streets. Sad to say it to our urban-dwelling friends, but most of you brought this on yourselves. But stay safe our there, at least as best you can.