Eastern Tennessee Experiencing sharp increase in Concealed Permit Holders
Instructor Sgt. Mike Lett says many students are coming through because of the brutal murder of a Knox County couple and the Virginia Tech campus shooting. He trains officers the same way he trains citizens -- to pull the trigger only as the last resort. But he says people have to decide if they can do that, before they pick up a gun. "Each individual person has to decide if they want to carry a firearm for their own protection, " said Sgt. Lett. "It's not a decision I need to make or anyone else."
In December of 2005, 63 people in Knox county applied for permits, versus 205 in April. That's a 225% difference. The number in Blount County went up by 50%. Campbell, Claiborne and Grainger counties saw single digits turn to double.
Labels: ConcealedCarry
posted by John Lott at 3:46 PM
2 Comments:
A few years from now, I would like to see a comparison to the counties that increased citizen's carrying concealed and those counties in Tennessee that didn't increase in their citizen's carrying concealed.
I would be willing to bet that East Tennessee would be, as your research has shown, a safer place.
I live in Carter County, and have had a permit for over 10 years. Never had to fire but have had some interesting encounters at times.
I think that the increase may alsos be in part ot the online forum www.tennesseegunowners.com, in which a lot of us gun owners congregate and give each other advice. I have seen an increase of threads along the lines of "I just registered for my permit today!". Hopefully the increase will spread throughout Tennessee.
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