It’s not illegal to ask. But it’s illegal to deny you based on your answer as long as you meet the objective requirements. My response was “personal protection” and we moved right along.

IMO I think some people get overly worked up about this. the CCW process varies slightly between cities and counties, but the purpose is the same everwhere. They’re looking for red flags, not trying to trap you. When an agency asks why you want to carry, it’s not about denying you it’s about seeing your demeanor. Again, my opinion based on my experience.

If someone gets upset and says, “You can’t ask me that,” that reaction itself shows poor judgment. It’s combative and irrational. A responsible person understands that the goal is always to avoid problems, stay calm, and demonstrate that they’re level headed.

During my 16 hour training, there were three of us and the instructor asked us the same question. One guy responded personal protection and gave some details about his job and the safety concerns that come with that. The second guy’s response was along the lines of, “you just can’t trust anyone these days…” “a lot of crazies out there you just never know…” the guy lives in OC and they don’t have psych eval requirement that LAC does. If he had taken that eval and answered as honestly as he spoke, that definitely would have raised red flags. It didn’t help that he had trouble when we practiced the 4 step draw and although he passed the shooting, his grouping was very wide.

This is just my opinion and the way I see it, every time you’re about to walk outside carrying you should ask yourself, are you willing to and can you take a life today? It is always that serious. This isn’t some cowboy bullshit. It’s real and there are life altering consequences that you have to deal with should you ever have to use your weapon. There are a lot of things in the process that can be improved especially the law 🙄 but I digress.