More ask to carry concealed weapons

[festus]

More ask to carry concealed weapons
Political, economic fears drive increase
By Emily Bazar
USA TODAY
USATODAY.com
Gun owners are packing heat in record numbers, fearful of stricter gun control under the Obama administration and higher crime in a sour economy.

Some states and counties report a surge in applications for concealed weapons permits since the November election. All states but Illinois and Wisconsin allow concealed weapons, but requirements differ.

Applications already have hit a record this year in Clay County, Mo., where the sheriff's office received 888 through June, compared with 863 in all of last year, Sheriff Bob Boydston says.

In the past, applicants tended to be middle-aged men, he says, but now include "grandmothers, older folks, young women, young men."

They tell him the bad economy will lead to more thefts and break-ins, he says, but his statistics show recession-related violent crime hasn't gone up.

They also fear gun control, he says. Last week, an elderly couple seeking a permit told him they were sure the president was "on the verge of coming to our homes and taking our weapons," he says.

Statewide, the Missouri State Highway Patrol has processed 18,878 background checks this year for the permits, the most since the agency began keeping statistics in 2005, Lt. John Hotz says.

In May, Obama signed a law that will allow guns in national parks. "The president respects and supports the Second Amendment and the tradition of gun ownership in this country," White House spokesman Ben LaBolt says.

Interest groups on both sides agree that demand is up because of economic and political uncertainty.

People worry the administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress will try to "enact more gun control," says Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, fears that violent confrontations will increase. "When someone's carrying a gun around and they're not fully trained, oftentimes they'll use it just because it's there," he says.

Demand is also up in:

•Florida. The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services hired 61 temporary workers to tackle a backlog in applications, spokesman Terence McElroy says. It got 75,520 applications through June, on pace to beat last year's record of 90,331.

•Caldwell County, N.C. Residents filed 358 applications in the first half of this year, compared with 135 for the same period last year, "a bigger increase than we've ever seen," Sheriff's Detective B.J. Fore says. "People are worried about desperate times."

•Utah. June ranked as the top month ever for applications, with 11,292 received, says Lt. Doug Anderson of the state Bureau of Criminal Identification. The year also is on pace to be record-setting, he says, with 49,499 applications in through June.

Craig Ball, manager of Impact Guns in Ogden, has offered more training courses. "Last year, a typical class would be 15 to 20 people," he says. "Right after the election, we had as many as 55."

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Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, fears that violent confrontations will increase. "When someone's carrying a gun around and they're not fully trained, oftentimes they'll use it just because it's there," he says.

Wow I love Nut jobs like this. What are the numbers of Concealed carry permit holders or people open carrying who walk around town shooting people just because they have a gun? The fact of the matter is Police officers often use their weapons just because they are their. How many police shootings do we have each year? Now look up the numbers for permit/open carry shootings a year? I think you will find that the numbers just don't add up. You will find police shootings are a lot higher. If people would look at the facts before opening their mouths it would help them not look like such a dumb a@@. The firearm training that we sheep dogs have to take just to get a piece of paper that says we can get yet another piece of paper that says we can carry a firearm. Is just as intense if not more intense as Rookie officers have to under go while in the academy. The sheep dogs don't have unions who will front the court costs after a shooting. Now I'm not saying we don't have a few dirty harry wannabe's in our ranks who go out looking for trouble. I would like to see a report done on the number of Bad guys packing heat. The anti gun lobby would crap in their shorts to see just how out gunned the police and the sheep dogs are. On top of that unlike the police and sheep dogs the bad guys idea of packing heat. Is carrying around a Mac-10, sawed off shotgun as well as other full auto weapons. What does it say when the bad guys are armed with way more and better firepower then our own police forces.

[Wolfling68]

Well, I live in Florida. Our training requirements are a JOKE. I would like to see people better trained, myself included. I am concerned about the number of untrained people buying guns. I would love to see a more strict training requirement for a CCW. I wouldn't even mind a training requirement to purchase your first gun.

But I am much more concerned about people not being able to buy guns than I am about being shot by a legally owned gun.

[S&WM&P40]

I wouldn't even mind a training requirement to purchase your first gun.

That's just nuts and sounds like the crap they do in MA,NJ and other dictatorship states. New Hampshire and Vermont and i think Alaska and maybe a few others do not even have any set training to get a permit. I like that for a few reasons first one being the way the economy is now people need every dollar they can get. They don't really have the few hundred dollars needed to take a class. But yet still want the right to be able to defend them self's. Now if we where talking about a state run training course that was free for all in state residents (TAX PAYERS).Then i would support that. But the crap of going to someone who has no cap on how much they can charge you for a class IS NUTS.