Florida gun owners getting concealed-weapons permits at record pace
Florida gun owners are grabbing up concealed-weapons permits at a record pace.
It might be concern for President Obama’s record on guns, or fear that a bad economy will cause crime to rise, or reaction to last year’s guns-at-work law. Or maybe a combination of all three is behind the rapid rise in applications for pistol-toting permits, state officials say.
“We’re still sitting on about 50,000 applications,” said Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson. “We’re getting in about 14,000 or 15,000 a month and whenever they get a good slug out, they’re getting another 15,000 in.”
Bronson went to the Legislature last spring for authorization to hire 61 temporary employees -- bringing the total to 202 -- who have helped whittle down a backlog that then stood at 90,000 for all types of concealed-weapon permits. The backlog, alone, was roughly equal to all the applications received in 2008 -- 90,331 -- and the department received 75,520 applications in the first six months of this year.
That puts the state on pace for close to 150,000 concealed-weapons permit applications this year. Most applications are approved, department spokesman Terence McElroy said, because the law allows any law-abiding gun owner to get a license. Few crooks are dumb enough to plunk down the $117 application fee, if they have a felony record.
There were 607,977 active concealed-weapons permits as of July 31. Active permits jumped more than 16,000 in a single month.
‘SHOULDN’T SURPRISE’
Marion Hammer, a former president of the National Rifle Association who has lobbied the Legislature on guns for decades, is not surprised by the jump.
A law last year prohibits employers from banning guns in the workplace as long as they’re safely locked in their cars. That led many to seek concealed-weapons permits to allow them to do so.
Obama’s record as an Illinois legislator and U.S. senator was also alarming, Hammer said, along with the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the congressional clout of Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Ca.
“It really shouldn’t surprise anyone that the changes in the political landscape are driving a lot of these applicants,” said Hammer. “There are over 6 million gun owners in Florida, people who care about freedom, who care about the 2nd Amendment, who are concerned about their ability to protect themselves.”
But Peter Hamm, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, said Obama has been gun shy so far. A recent rider on credit-card legislation, allowing guns in national parks, sailed through without White House objections, he said.
“It’s a little bit absurd, it’s paranoia to a certain extent,” said Hamm. “We’ve seen nothing out of this administration whatsoever. Law-abiding citizens who are getting permits because they think the government is coming to take their guns away are just wrong -- it’s an absurd, cartoonish myth.”
‘SECURING THAT RIGHT’
Late-night comics made jokes about “the gun-shine state” and the legislative debate was hot 20 years ago when Hammer lobbied one of the nation’s first concealed-weapon laws through the Legislature. But it’s not controversial now and Bronson said 31 other states have laws like Florida’s.
State Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, who owns a Mount Dora gun store, is running to succeed Bronson in the Cabinet post. He said he’s seen an increase in women at the twice-monthly safety classes his store conducts for permit applicants and that having a concealed-weapon permit no longer raises eyebrows.
“The first thing driving the increase is just a general apprehension among citizens that they might lose their right to carry a gun, and they feel this is sort of a way of securing that right,” said Baker.
“And second, it’s just become more acceptable to have a permit. As I campaign around the state, when people find out I own a gun shop, I just see that people are more comfortable with applying for a permit. Maybe it’s become more socially acceptable.”
Bronson, a former state senator who served as a reserve deputy in the Brevard and Miami-Dade County sheriff offices, said gun owners might feel safer if they have permits before any federal gun legislation gets passed.
“The president has made statements when he was a state senator in Illinois about people carrying weapons, and taxing ammunition, that’s got people concerned,” he said. “If they feel that in Congress there’s an anti-gun, anti-carry mentality, people might feel if they get their licenses, they’re going to be covered or grandfathered in.”
By: Bill Cotterell, The Tallahassee Democrat
