More on Concealed Handgun Permits increasing

More concealed handgun permits increasing across the country:

From WLOS ABC Channel 13 in Asheville, NC

Gun Permit Numbers Skyrocket (01/28/09)

The number of people applying for gun permits has risen sharply in recent months here in the Mountains.
The rise began right after the November election, when rumors spread that new President Barack Obama would seek to imposed restrictions on gun owners.
Now, it appears even more people want to own a gun for fear of becoming a victim of crime.
"We had a neighbor to get broke into and they came in with masks on held guns to their head," said Ronald Buckner, as he applied for a permit in Buncombe County. "The crime rate's just gotten so high I'm scared to go out without one and I am not physically able to fight no one."
Records show there were 2,790 pistol purchase permits issued in Buncombe County in 2007.
That number increased by more than 55 percent last year.
The number of applications for concealed weapons permits has also doubled.

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Unfortunately, it contains the misinformation about guns being taken from victims and used against them.

Self-defense classes, gun licenses rise in response to crime
Atlanta police say crime decreasing, but residents say they feel less safe

By CHRISTIAN BOONE, JAMIE GUMBRECHT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
In early December, three heavily armed men broke into Chris Devoe’s Little Five Points apartment and attacked him and a friend.

One intruder struck Devoe repeatedly in the head with a shotgun and then tied his hands with a cord. Two took his friend, Rachael Spiewak, into another room and sexually assaulted her. The third left with the victims’ ATM cards and passwords, returned, and then he, too, sexually assaulted her. . . .

Atlanta residents are finding a variety of ways to react to crime.

After a wave of robberies at upscale boutiques, Lindsay Daniel, owner of Poppy’s boutique in Buckhead, decided she didn’t want a weapon that could be taken from her and used against her. She installed a buzzer system at her store and signed up for self-defense classes.

“I just figured, ‘Can’t hurt.’ Not only in my work setting, but walking across the grocery store parking lot,” said Daniel, 30.

Malinda Adams, a Grant Park condo owner who noticed more break-ins in the neighborhood, has a different answer. The 48-year-old has a security system and a strike plate on her door, and, in December, she brought a pistol home. “I would use and I will use it,” Adams said. “I hope I don’t have to.”

And this from Pennsylvania

Gun sales skyrocket since election
By Amy Revak, Herald-Standard
01/26/2009

Fear of potential changes to firearm laws over the next four years is one theory behind why sales of guns and gun permits are up across the area.

Mark Pochron, manager of Dry Tavern True Value, said a surge in gun sales over the past few months could likely be attributed to people having a concern about what President Barack Obama will do regarding gun laws during his administration.

"There is a real concern about what Barack Obama will do," Pochron said. "It is fear of the unknown. I think people are unsure."

Pochron, whose business is renewing its firearms sales license and is unable to sell such weaponry, said he recently attended a gun show in the South. He said while the economy has been bad for nearly every industry, the gun industry has had one of the best years ever.

UPDATE: Increases in Georgia

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Across Georgia, there’s been a dramatic surge in applications for firearm permits, and no sign that the trend is slowing. Statewide, 121,219 applications were submitted in 2008, up 79.2 percent from 67,640 in 2007, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

It fits with what’s occurred over the last year in other parts of the country, where dealers report that guns are flying off store shelves, when little else is moving.

The reasons for the surge in Georgia vary —- for some permit seekers it’s based on political uncertainties. For others, it was a law change last year that opened up the places where a concealed weapon is allowed.

For still others, it’s about plain old protection. Long gone are the days when the front door could be left unlocked. More and more, locks don’t suffice and steel bars have replaced wire-framed screens. Some crime rates, property crime in particular, are up across metro Atlanta, from the suburbs to intown neighborhoods, where a recent string of violent crime has residents banding together in ways they might not have imagined until now.

In areas where high crime already was an issue, things could get worse before they get better, particularly as officials wrestle with having to cut public safety services to help their budgets. And in areas known to be safer, perceptions are changing —- areas like Atlanta’s gentrifying intown neighborhoods. . . .