Sometimes the check is delayed, and Cooper said if the FBI doesn’t get back to him within three working days he can sell the gun to the customer anyway.

“We only can do what the FBI tells us we can,” he said.

The gun purchaser must be 21 and show a photo ID, usually a driver’s license or state identification card, Cooper said.

There are some limits to what a gun owner can do with his firearm, though, according to Probate Judge Wes Lewis, whose office issues firearms permits.

Without a gun license, a person can have the weapon in his home, his business or his car, Lewis said. The permit allows him to carry it on his person as well and/or to have it concealed, although a concealed handgun must be carried in a holster or otherwise secured.

To get a firearms permit, a person must fill out an application at the Probate Court. The cost is $35.25. The application will ask 16 questions that determine whether the person is legally barred from obtaining a permit. A permit cannot be issued to someone under 21, for instance, or to someone who has been convicted of a felony.

The Probate Court then sends the applicant with his paperwork to the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office, where he is fingerprinted and the office initiates a background check, at a cost of another $5.

Lewis said the CCSO’s use of LiveScan fingerprinting technology has sped the background check immensely. The license is usually mailed to the applicant within two or three weeks, if he passes the background check.

The license is good for five years, Lewis said, and the person must reapply, including the background check, to get it renewed.

Even with a permit, some areas are off-limits to firearms by state or federal law, including schools, churches and public gatherings. Recent law changes have made public parks, public transportation and wildlife management areas accessible to people with guns. The same law allows a person to carry a gun into a restaurant that serves alcohol, but it forbids him from having a drink.