Mike
Site Co-Founder
imported post
NOTE: I understand Pennsylvania has issue somthing like 600,000 permits to conceal - and PA is much smaller than Texas! I expect the Texas permit population to swell to over 1 million people within the next couple of years.
And hey, if you live in Texas, sign the petition to legalize open carry! Nobody should have to wait for a permit to carry a gun openly!
http://www.petitiononline.com/texasoc/petition.html
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http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/081609/loc_482262111.shtml
Texas sees rush on concealed-gun license applications: Permits may top 400,000
Bureau up to speed in processing through backlog
By Enrique Rangel
enrique.rangel@morris.com
Since the early days of the Wild West in the 19th century, guns have been an integral part of the Texas culture. Yet it wasn't until the mid-1990s that the Legislature approved a bill that allows any Texan over 21 and with no criminal record to carry a concealed weapon.
AUSTIN - Call it a gun run.
Where most license holders live
Most concealed-handgun license holders live in the Houston-Galveston-Beaumont area. These are the six leading counties.
County License holders Percentage of all licensees
Harris 50,836 15.52
Montgomery 9,046 2.76
Fort Bend 7,715 2.36
Galveston 6,028 1.84
Brazoria 5,923 1.81
Jefferson 4,791 1.46
Source: Texas Department of Public Safety
Concealed-gun licenses in West Texas
County License Percentage of Holders* all licensees
Lubbock 3,695 1.13
Randall 2,151 0.66
Potter 1,156 0.35
Gray 359 0.11
Hutchinson 352 0.11
Hale 311 0.09
Moore 251 0.08
Deaf Smith 194 0.06
Gaines 187 0.06
Terry 143 0.04
Source: Texas Department of Public Safety
*Numbers as of March 2009
Conviction rates for license holders
Former state Sen. Jerry Patterson, now the Texas land commissioner and the author of the 1997 concealed-handgun license bill, has maintained that people with concealed handgun licenses are law-abiding citizens. These are the convictions in the state for 2007, the last year for which such statistics are available. (The numbers reflect convictions only for those over 21.)
Crime Total Convictions Percentage convictions for licensees
Robbery 1,791 0 0
Deadly conduct 1,432 15 1.04
Sexual contact with a child 1,161 4 0.34
Murder 371 2 0.54
Murder of police or firefighter 58 0 0
Source: Texas Department of Public Safety
In the first half of this year, the Concealed Handgun Licensing Bureau at the Texas Department of Public Safety handled an average of 12,700 applications a month compared with 8,700 during the same period in 2008, a 46 percent increase.
A healthy percentage of those applicants are from West Texas, particularly from Lubbock and Randall counties. Potter County, which has roughly the same population as Randall County, has a significantly lower number of residents with concealed-gun licenses.
"The bureau hired more than 50 temporary employees to assist in alleviating the backlog," DPS spokeswoman Lisa Block said. "Thanks to those individuals, the bureau is now back to the point of entering new applications into the system as they arrive."
Once the agency tallies all the concealed-gun licenses issued in the 2008-09 fiscal year, a Morris News Service analysis projects the number of license holders in the state will be more than 400,000. As of March 17 it was 327,560.
With 3,695 and 2,151 license holders, respectively, Lubbock and Randall counties do not have as high a number as some other counties with about the same number of residents. But compared with the state as a whole, the two West Texas counties have a significantly higher percentage of licensees.
"I am not surprised," said state Rep. David Swinford, who has a license to carry a concealed gun.
"People are applying for licenses because they see a need for it," the Dumas Republican said. "We have so much distrust of Congress and the president about the right to bear arms."
The number of applications is keeping pace with the surge of gun sales Texas and the rest of the country has seen since President Obama was elected in November, Swinford and others said.
"This is also a reflection of what is happening where people live," said state Rep. Joe Heflin, D-Crosbyton, who also holds a concealed-handgun license. "In Lubbock and other communities there have been home invasions, robberies and other violent crimes. ... Law-abiding citizens want to feel secure."
Texas behind states
Despite the sharp increase in the number of Texas applications this year, there are other states with more concealed-handgun licenses, said Mike Stollenwerk, director and co-founder of OpenCarry.org, a Web site in northern Virginia that favors laws that would permit gun owners to display their firearms in public, the way uniformed law enforcement officers do.
OpenCarry.org does not keep track of concealed-handgun license holders because many states make it difficult to obtain such information - in fact, Texas and about a dozen other states have recently passed laws that keep the names of license holders confidential.
Records show Florida and Pennsylvania have a higher number of license holders than Texas.
As of July 31, Florida had 763,781 license holders, according to the state's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services - about twice as many as Texas.
"Florida and Utah have a high number of license holders because they allow by-mail permits," said Stollenwerk. "It is very disappointing (that) Texas doesn't."
The high numbers of licensees are hardly encouraging news for Marsha McCartney, president of the Dallas-based North Texas Chapter of the Brady Campaign, a nationwide organization that favors gun ownership restrictions.
Like other gun control advocates, McCartney said she's concerned gun sales are booming in Texas, and applications for concealed-weapon licenses are keeping up with those sales.
"I am concerned that some of those people are so frightened and are getting a gun," McCartney said in reference to news reports based on a perceived fear that Obama and Congress want to take people's guns away. "It is sad that there is so much misinformation out there."
However, the sharp increase on applications for concealed-handgun licenses does not worry DPS Director Steve McCraw.
The Legislature established strict guidelines that make it difficult for criminals and unfit applicants to get a concealed-handgun license, McCraw said.
"These individuals are fully vetted to ensure that they don't have any links to crime, that they are who they say they are ... that is the key requirement," McCraw said. "So if a person has never been arrested, convicted, charged, the Legislature has made very clear, they are eligible for (the license).
"The other part, are they proficient? ... They are not issued anything until they go through that particular process," McCraw said of the required firearm training. "So we have those elements along those lines, and I'm confident that at least we won't let criminals get their hands on it."
NOTE: I understand Pennsylvania has issue somthing like 600,000 permits to conceal - and PA is much smaller than Texas! I expect the Texas permit population to swell to over 1 million people within the next couple of years.
And hey, if you live in Texas, sign the petition to legalize open carry! Nobody should have to wait for a permit to carry a gun openly!
http://www.petitiononline.com/texasoc/petition.html
-----
http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/081609/loc_482262111.shtml
Texas sees rush on concealed-gun license applications: Permits may top 400,000
Bureau up to speed in processing through backlog
By Enrique Rangel
enrique.rangel@morris.com
Since the early days of the Wild West in the 19th century, guns have been an integral part of the Texas culture. Yet it wasn't until the mid-1990s that the Legislature approved a bill that allows any Texan over 21 and with no criminal record to carry a concealed weapon.
AUSTIN - Call it a gun run.
Where most license holders live
Most concealed-handgun license holders live in the Houston-Galveston-Beaumont area. These are the six leading counties.
County License holders Percentage of all licensees
Harris 50,836 15.52
Montgomery 9,046 2.76
Fort Bend 7,715 2.36
Galveston 6,028 1.84
Brazoria 5,923 1.81
Jefferson 4,791 1.46
Source: Texas Department of Public Safety
Concealed-gun licenses in West Texas
County License Percentage of Holders* all licensees
Lubbock 3,695 1.13
Randall 2,151 0.66
Potter 1,156 0.35
Gray 359 0.11
Hutchinson 352 0.11
Hale 311 0.09
Moore 251 0.08
Deaf Smith 194 0.06
Gaines 187 0.06
Terry 143 0.04
Source: Texas Department of Public Safety
*Numbers as of March 2009
Conviction rates for license holders
Former state Sen. Jerry Patterson, now the Texas land commissioner and the author of the 1997 concealed-handgun license bill, has maintained that people with concealed handgun licenses are law-abiding citizens. These are the convictions in the state for 2007, the last year for which such statistics are available. (The numbers reflect convictions only for those over 21.)
Crime Total Convictions Percentage convictions for licensees
Robbery 1,791 0 0
Deadly conduct 1,432 15 1.04
Sexual contact with a child 1,161 4 0.34
Murder 371 2 0.54
Murder of police or firefighter 58 0 0
Source: Texas Department of Public Safety
In the first half of this year, the Concealed Handgun Licensing Bureau at the Texas Department of Public Safety handled an average of 12,700 applications a month compared with 8,700 during the same period in 2008, a 46 percent increase.
A healthy percentage of those applicants are from West Texas, particularly from Lubbock and Randall counties. Potter County, which has roughly the same population as Randall County, has a significantly lower number of residents with concealed-gun licenses.
"The bureau hired more than 50 temporary employees to assist in alleviating the backlog," DPS spokeswoman Lisa Block said. "Thanks to those individuals, the bureau is now back to the point of entering new applications into the system as they arrive."
Once the agency tallies all the concealed-gun licenses issued in the 2008-09 fiscal year, a Morris News Service analysis projects the number of license holders in the state will be more than 400,000. As of March 17 it was 327,560.
With 3,695 and 2,151 license holders, respectively, Lubbock and Randall counties do not have as high a number as some other counties with about the same number of residents. But compared with the state as a whole, the two West Texas counties have a significantly higher percentage of licensees.
"I am not surprised," said state Rep. David Swinford, who has a license to carry a concealed gun.
"People are applying for licenses because they see a need for it," the Dumas Republican said. "We have so much distrust of Congress and the president about the right to bear arms."
The number of applications is keeping pace with the surge of gun sales Texas and the rest of the country has seen since President Obama was elected in November, Swinford and others said.
"This is also a reflection of what is happening where people live," said state Rep. Joe Heflin, D-Crosbyton, who also holds a concealed-handgun license. "In Lubbock and other communities there have been home invasions, robberies and other violent crimes. ... Law-abiding citizens want to feel secure."
Texas behind states
Despite the sharp increase in the number of Texas applications this year, there are other states with more concealed-handgun licenses, said Mike Stollenwerk, director and co-founder of OpenCarry.org, a Web site in northern Virginia that favors laws that would permit gun owners to display their firearms in public, the way uniformed law enforcement officers do.
OpenCarry.org does not keep track of concealed-handgun license holders because many states make it difficult to obtain such information - in fact, Texas and about a dozen other states have recently passed laws that keep the names of license holders confidential.
Records show Florida and Pennsylvania have a higher number of license holders than Texas.
As of July 31, Florida had 763,781 license holders, according to the state's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services - about twice as many as Texas.
"Florida and Utah have a high number of license holders because they allow by-mail permits," said Stollenwerk. "It is very disappointing (that) Texas doesn't."
The high numbers of licensees are hardly encouraging news for Marsha McCartney, president of the Dallas-based North Texas Chapter of the Brady Campaign, a nationwide organization that favors gun ownership restrictions.
Like other gun control advocates, McCartney said she's concerned gun sales are booming in Texas, and applications for concealed-weapon licenses are keeping up with those sales.
"I am concerned that some of those people are so frightened and are getting a gun," McCartney said in reference to news reports based on a perceived fear that Obama and Congress want to take people's guns away. "It is sad that there is so much misinformation out there."
However, the sharp increase on applications for concealed-handgun licenses does not worry DPS Director Steve McCraw.
The Legislature established strict guidelines that make it difficult for criminals and unfit applicants to get a concealed-handgun license, McCraw said.
"These individuals are fully vetted to ensure that they don't have any links to crime, that they are who they say they are ... that is the key requirement," McCraw said. "So if a person has never been arrested, convicted, charged, the Legislature has made very clear, they are eligible for (the license).
"The other part, are they proficient? ... They are not issued anything until they go through that particular process," McCraw said of the required firearm training. "So we have those elements along those lines, and I'm confident that at least we won't let criminals get their hands on it."