A report from the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) shows the demand for concealed carry witnessed its greatest surge ever between May 2016 and May 2017.
The number of permits nationwide has now surpassed 15 million.
That means more than 15 million law-abiding Americans have permits to carry a gun every day for defense of their own lives and the lives of others. And that 15 million-plus does not include the untold number of residents who legally carry without a permit in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, and West Virginia.
According to Fox News, the CPRC reports that there were 14.5 million permit holders in May 2016. There are approximately 15.7 million now.
CPRC’s John Lott says a big reason behind the jump is the continued growth in concealed carry among women and minorities. He said, “I think you’re continuing to see a change in the composition of people who go and get permits. Women are growing at a much faster rate than men.”
On July 28, 2016, Breitbart News reported that women got concealed carry permits at twice the rate of men during Barack Obama’s second term. CPRC figures revealed not only that women were outpacing men but “that permit-holding [was] increasing about 75 percent more quickly among minorities than among white.” Yet throughout this time gun control groups tried to explain away record background checks for gun sales by suggesting the same old, white gun owners were simply buying more guns. Such an explanation is not viable when one considers the reality of an expanding number of concealed carry permits among women and minorities.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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