Number of people with concealed carry permits exploding in Florida

From Ocala.com:

The state issued 175,555 new licenses between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010, up from 25,352 new licenses 10 years earlier.

The number of permit applications was so large last year that the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services struggled to process them within 90 days as required by law. Ken Wilkinson of the Department of Agriculture said the agency had a two-month backlog just to scan the application documents into their computers, much less approve or deny the requests.

Applicants often waited as much as 120 days last year for their licenses, Wilkinson said. . . .

While many point to the incoming Obama administration as the catalyst for the rush to arm, that doesn't appear to explain a trend that actually started six or seven years ago.

Yet concealed weapons instructor Mike Severin insists the first wave for concealed licenses hit just before President Obama's inauguration. . . .

At the end of June, Florida had 739,222 valid concealed carry permit holders.