Virginia Concealed Weapons Applications Rise by 60 Percent

WTOP reports:

RICHMOND, Va. - Doug and Cheryl Camden were raised around guns but agreed not to keep them in their house after they got married and began raising five children of their own.

Then violent crime began to dominate daily news reports. Several businesses near their Chester restaurant were robbed, home invasions seemed to increase and the world just seemed to be getting much more dangerous.

"It's to the point where you can't walk through the park without getting attacked," Doug Camden said Friday.

So the Camdens are following the path taken by a sharply increasing number of Virginians: They're applying for concealed weapons permits so they can begin carrying a gun for self-protection.

Virginia Supreme Court statistics show that nearly 44,000 people applied for permits in 2007, an increase of more than 60 percent over the previous year. Applicants don't have to state a reason for seeking a permit. . . .

Thanks to Janet Fallon for pointing this story out to me.