Concealed Carry Licenses Surge in Ohio

Ohio reports that concealed carry licenses surged in 2015, with approximately 72,000 new licenses issued.

The increase is a considerable jump above the 58,000 issued in 2014.

According to WKYC, concealed carry licenses last for five years before requiring renewal in Ohio. And there were 45,000 renewals in addition to all the newly issued licenses in 2015.

Cleveland.com reports that Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence’s Jennifer Thorne believes the surge in concealed carry license holders is driven by the “gun lobby.” Thorne said people getting concealed permits “are really influenced by a culture of fear that is promoted by the gun lobby to increase the bottom line of their clients who are gun manufacturers.” Therefore, she believes the ultimate driving force for concealed carry is “just greed.”

Ohioans for Concealed Carry’s Doug Deeken sees it differently, however. He argues the surge in concealed carry is an outgrowth of grassroots concern for personal safety. Deeken said, “People read the news, they see what happened in Paris, San Bernardino, and they realize that they are their own first responders.”

Raw numbers show concealed carry has been surging around the country since the November 13 Paris attacks and that it jumped again following the San Bernardino attacks in December. Breitbart News reported an exponential surge in permit applications following Paris, another such surge the day after the San Bernardino attacks, and continued and rising demand for concealed permits in Minnesota, Oklahoma, and elsewhere around the country thereafter.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.