By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – The St. Charles County sheriff is expecting more than 3,000 gun owners to apply for concealed weapons permits this weekend.
That's after the County Council this week approved a different way of paying for fingerprinting and background checks.
The county is charging applicants a user fee instead of an application fee.
Officials say that will keep the county from running afoul of the state's ban on unfunded mandates.
St. Charles detective Gerry Pollard says other Missouri counties could follow suit.
"I think people will take a look at it," Pollard said. "I think people are going to be patient and see how it goes over for us. You may have three or four counties who go ahead and implement this process. I think there's a lot of people who are going to stand back and look to see how it goes."
St. Charles County residents must pay $95.25 to get a permit.
The sheriff will begin taking applications Saturday.
Attorneys who sued to block conceal and carry are not yet saying whether they think the St. Charles plan is illegal.
A bill is pending in the Legislature that would change the law to reflect funding concerns the Missouri Supreme Court raised last month.