Concealed carry permit applications are surging in states like North Carolina, as they have been surging nationally under Obama, “amid safety fears.”
For example, in North Carolina’s Buncombe County, the number of permits issued in 2014 were up “101 percent” from 2010. And this county-level jump is in line with a national jump under Obama, whereby the number of concealed carry permit holders rose “136 percent” across the United States between 1999 and 2014.
According to the Citizen-Times, the reasons behind the surge in NC are based on both politics and safety. While Republicans like state Representative Jacqueline Schaffer (Dist. 105) are pushing to lessen the restrictions on law-abiding gun owners in NC, Democrats keep fighting back, pressing to keep as much gun control in place as possible.
And the Democrats are getting help from Michael Bloomberg-funded groups like Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Moreover, while Schaffer and other NC Republicans fight to defend the Second Amendment politically, real world dangers are creating an increase in first-time gun buyers who go on and apply for a concealed permit, as well.
The Times points to Buncombe County resident Kim Smith Worley as an example. She had never owned guns or been around them prior to getting married. But after “a couple of break-ins” in a situation where her husband was in and out of town for business, she not only got a gun, but also a carry permit.
Similar stories are evident nationwide.
For example, KMOV reports that in St. Louis County, Missouri, concealed carry permit applications were up 100 percent in March 2015 versus March 2014. What event coincided with the jump? Ferguson.
Now that Ferguson is but the first of many–riots having occurred in New York City, Baltimore, and Cleveland, to name a few–citizens are realizing more and more that their protection is in their own hands, literally.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.