Not bad - A USA Today story.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... guns_N.htm

By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY
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, says Sheriff Bob Boydston. The office recently hired two part-time workers to deal with the rush.

In the past, applicants tended to be middle-aged men, he says, but recent applicants 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 violent crime related to the recession hasn't gone up.

They also say they fear gun control, he says. Last week, Boydston spoke with an elderly couple seeking a permit. "They are positive the president is 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 so far this year for the permits, the most since the agency began keeping statistics in 2005, Lt. John Hotz says. It processed 18,466 checks during all of last year.

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 for permits is up because of economic uncertainty and concerns about a new president and a Democrat-controlled Congress.

"People pay attention to politics. … They're afraid of another effort" to try to enact more gun control, says Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association. "Part of the concern is spurred by the economic downturn and fear that crime will go up."

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, fears that violent confrontations will increase as more people carry concealed guns. "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 in spring to tackle a backlog in applications, says spokesman Terence McElroy. The department received 75,520 applications through June, on pace to beat last year's record of 90,331.

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

•Texas. The Department of Public Safety has seen "an unprecedented increase" in applications since November, spokeswoman Lisa Block says.

•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. This year also is record-setting, he says, with 49,499 applications in through June.

Craig Ball, manager of Impact Guns in Ogden, Utah, has offered more training courses to meet demand.

"Last year, a typical class would be 15 to 20 people," he says. "Right after the election, we had as many as 55 people."

Why can't Minnesota post those record numbers? Is our general public even aware that they can get a permit or ???

I think we will. Give it about a year. We are already at 65,000, and the increases are not slowing. But I predict a surge is ahead. I'm guessing that by the end of next summer, we should be over 85,000, and possibly more.

Also remember that Florida and Utah have a lot more non-resident permits than MN...

As I recall, the suspension of new permits due to the Lillehaug lawsuit was almost exactly 5 years ago this month. That means next month, we will see no expirations, but will continue to train new permit holders. This situation should persist until next summer, no permits expiring, but new permit holders added.

It will be reasonable to expect the slope of Andrew's graph approximately double during the course of the next year:

I think you say that half-jokingly, but unfortunately that is the case, by and large. Many, many MN's are completely clueless when it comes to our laws relating to carry of a firearm.

On a side note, I am very proud to say that my wife (finally) decided that she wants to get her carry permit. I've had her at the range a few times, and she's really taken an interest (and she's not a bad shot, either!). Something sexy about watching a woman putting lead downrange...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpFDHO-tqUY&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Any instructors run ads for permit classes? In major publications?

I do. Nah. Masses of eyeballs and too expensive; too little, err, bang for the buck.

Coconut Charlie, on the other hand....

I heard this morning that there is an ongoing search for the next Billy Mays (RIP). An info commercial by a training instructor might be an interesting concept. I'm having a vision........."Hi, I'm Joel Rosengberg here for TCCarry............"

Just funnin

Maybe a quarter jokingly. Guessing from casual conversations that there are a LOT of MN residents that have no clue about guns in general, handguns and protection in particular.

IE my BIL has always had a loaded 357 with him (not while actually driving on the road) when they travel whether it be in MN or anywhere else and they travel a lot and also have a home in FL. Camp grounds, motel etc under his pillow. If you knew him you would be scarred as he is one of those penny wise dollar foolish kind of guys. Has had his 357 for over 10 years and has actually shot it 4 times with 5 shots each time because "ammo is expensive". No matter how I try to tell him he needs to know that a SD situation requires that you do things fast and automatically it goes in one ear and out the other. Funny thing is he has loads of bucks and is nearly 70. OK have to stop or my rant on the BIL might continue

Anywaaaaayyyyyyy how can we get more people educated on the option????

I think not. I have spoken at Mankato East High School to the senior class on two occasions, the first was March 2004, the second was April 2008. What really surprised me was that in March 2004, I took a very informal survey and roughly half of the class did not even know that a Minnesota permit to carry a weapon even existed. I thought that all was heard from the news media, that with the passage of the Minnesota permit to carry law in 2003, blood was going to flow in the streets, road rage, more domestic partner homicides, etc. I would think that more of the students of the senior class would be aware that such a law exists.

The crime that matters the most, is the crime being perpetrated against you personally. The rest are just an abstract aggregation that mean nothing, especially to the sheriff who is not personally the victim.

I had a neighborhood kid who was throwing lit fireworks into the dead grass under my deck. He was, in fact, trying to start my house on fire.

The cop I called didn't seem too interested, until I asked him where he lived, so that I could test his theory that it was no big deal.

He looked at me as though I shot the Pope.

You're right.

Yup. I think there's a lot of folks with no information on the subject, or bad information -- and I'm not just including the folks taking a
Coconut Charlie class, either.