Here is my complete timeline and experience applying and obtaining a CCW through the Alameda County Sherrif’s Office.
Initial application: June 2025
Approval to Obtain Livescan: Feb 2026
Interview with ACSO: June 2026
Psychological Evaluation (CorePsych): July 2026
CCW Class: August 2026
Permit Physically Picked Up: Sept 2026
Financial Commitment: $1,335
$100 initial application fee
$70 for live scan
$415 for psych evaluation
$450 for training and quals
$200ish in ammo (you’ll need 100 rounds per gun)
$100 final permit payment
It took about 8 months to hear back after the initial application, about on par with what I read online. I lagged on getting the Livescan done, once it was completed, I was contacted quickly to schedule the interview with ACSO. Interview was pretty standard, they confirmed your responses from the initial application, followed by further questions regarding temper, anxiety, etc. They pull an extremely detailed background check. They had records of every 911 call I’ve made, any time my name was associated with a police report, etc. They will ask you about all these things to confirm you qualify and are not of bad character.
I was approved for the psych evaluation with CORE psychology. It’s $415 (insane). You start with a ~200 question true/false and free response questionnaire. Questions ask about anxiety, depression, drug/alcohol abuse, and all other disqualifiers. The day of the evaluation, you will answer ~340 true/false questions that are extremely repetitive. This is a proctored portion, though my proctor muted their mic and turned their camera off for the ~1 hour it takes. Questions mostly ask about temper, whether you hear voices or see things that aren’t there, delusions of grandeur, paranoia, etc. Generally seems like it’s looking for patterns that indicate certain personality traits that may be red flags. Also seems to be repetitive to catch people lying or misrepresenting themselves. IE “I think I would be a good leader” followed by “I don’t think I would be a good leader” 20 questions later. You then meet with a psychologist, took about 15 minutes. They go over your answers from the initial ~200 questionnaire you submitted unproctored. They did not make me recall my answers, they read them to me and asked me to confirm that was correct (seems odd, but whatever). They then told me three words to remember, continued to ask me questions along the line of “what does ‘the grass isn’t always greener on the other side’ mean to you?” and “how do you manage stress”. Fairly basic and easy to answer. You are then asked to recall the three words (about 5 minutes later). I was then asked what I was applying for, what day of the week it was, who the president is, and what county I was applying through. I believe this was looking for poor memory/dementia.
My honest take on this process so far is that it’s a little goofy. I am a strong advocate for there being a process to ensure those obtaining a CCW are of sound mind and body so we don’t have crazy people out on the street. However, if you make it through the interview with an actual police officer going over your entire criminal and law enforcement interaction history without failing or getting disqualified, you can absolutely make it through the psych eval.
CORE Psych submits their report to ACSO and I was reached out to in a couple of days letting me know I am clear to proceed with the CCW 16 hour training and qualification.
I did the 16 hour initial course through Saber Tactics, Ephraim and Nick run a solid outfit and really embody the “no stupid question” philosophy. 8-9 hours of the course is prerecorded online module with videos and text. You take a 20 question exam at the end. Day of quals there are safety briefs, then handling and dry fire “training”, then you run your quals on whatever guns you listed. They issue the certificate of completion within a couple days. Their course also qualifies you to apply for a non-resident CCW permit in Florida, which gives you 39 state reciprocity (California CCW only gives you two state reciprocity and their both east coast states). You can also apply for an Arizona non resident CCW.
I submitted the certificate of completion on Sunday, and had an email Monday from ACSO to schedule CCW permit pickup. You pay the last $100 fee the morning of permit pickup.
As of today, I have my CCW permit in hand.
Initial application: June 2025
Approval to Obtain Livescan: Feb 2026
Interview with ACSO: June 2026
Psychological Evaluation (CorePsych): July 2026
CCW Class: August 2026
Permit Physically Picked Up: Sept 2026
Financial Commitment: $1,335
$100 initial application fee
$70 for live scan
$415 for psych evaluation
$450 for training and quals
$200ish in ammo (you’ll need 100 rounds per gun)
$100 final permit payment
It took about 8 months to hear back after the initial application, about on par with what I read online. I lagged on getting the Livescan done, once it was completed, I was contacted quickly to schedule the interview with ACSO. Interview was pretty standard, they confirmed your responses from the initial application, followed by further questions regarding temper, anxiety, etc. They pull an extremely detailed background check. They had records of every 911 call I’ve made, any time my name was associated with a police report, etc. They will ask you about all these things to confirm you qualify and are not of bad character.
I was approved for the psych evaluation with CORE psychology. It’s $415 (insane). You start with a ~200 question true/false and free response questionnaire. Questions ask about anxiety, depression, drug/alcohol abuse, and all other disqualifiers. The day of the evaluation, you will answer ~340 true/false questions that are extremely repetitive. This is a proctored portion, though my proctor muted their mic and turned their camera off for the ~1 hour it takes. Questions mostly ask about temper, whether you hear voices or see things that aren’t there, delusions of grandeur, paranoia, etc. Generally seems like it’s looking for patterns that indicate certain personality traits that may be red flags. Also seems to be repetitive to catch people lying or misrepresenting themselves. IE “I think I would be a good leader” followed by “I don’t think I would be a good leader” 20 questions later. You then meet with a psychologist, took about 15 minutes. They go over your answers from the initial ~200 questionnaire you submitted unproctored. They did not make me recall my answers, they read them to me and asked me to confirm that was correct (seems odd, but whatever). They then told me three words to remember, continued to ask me questions along the line of “what does ‘the grass isn’t always greener on the other side’ mean to you?” and “how do you manage stress”. Fairly basic and easy to answer. You are then asked to recall the three words (about 5 minutes later). I was then asked what I was applying for, what day of the week it was, who the president is, and what county I was applying through. I believe this was looking for poor memory/dementia.
My honest take on this process so far is that it’s a little goofy. I am a strong advocate for there being a process to ensure those obtaining a CCW are of sound mind and body so we don’t have crazy people out on the street. However, if you make it through the interview with an actual police officer going over your entire criminal and law enforcement interaction history without failing or getting disqualified, you can absolutely make it through the psych eval.
CORE Psych submits their report to ACSO and I was reached out to in a couple of days letting me know I am clear to proceed with the CCW 16 hour training and qualification.
I did the 16 hour initial course through Saber Tactics, Ephraim and Nick run a solid outfit and really embody the “no stupid question” philosophy. 8-9 hours of the course is prerecorded online module with videos and text. You take a 20 question exam at the end. Day of quals there are safety briefs, then handling and dry fire “training”, then you run your quals on whatever guns you listed. They issue the certificate of completion within a couple days. Their course also qualifies you to apply for a non-resident CCW permit in Florida, which gives you 39 state reciprocity (California CCW only gives you two state reciprocity and their both east coast states). You can also apply for an Arizona non resident CCW.
I submitted the certificate of completion on Sunday, and had an email Monday from ACSO to schedule CCW permit pickup. You pay the last $100 fee the morning of permit pickup.
As of today, I have my CCW permit in hand.
the grass is greener
is okay man I wish it was like Florida 75$ for your CCW 
