Barack Obama wasn’t just the best gun salesman in history. He was also the biggest motivation for carrying concealed. Permits have risen 304% since 2007 and 1.4 million more people obtained concealed carry permits in just the past year.
Despite the expectations of many after the 2016 elections the number of concealed handgun permits has increased for the third year in a row. In 2019, the number of concealed handgun permits soared to now over 18.66 million– a 304% increase since 2007. About an 8% growth over the number of permits since 2018. Unlike surveys that may be affected by people’s unwillingness to answer some personal questions, concealed handgun permit data is the only really “hard data” that we have on gun ownership across the United States. Still, an even larger number of people carry because in 16 states people don’t need a permit to carry.
Make a note of that last sentence because it matters. Three states that recently passed Constitutional Carry have all fallen below 10% of the population with permits. That means 5% or more who used to get a permit in those jurisdictions chose to skip it – that does not mean they stopped carrying. On the contrary, that and any number of additional law-abiding citizens are buying and carrying firearms because they didn’t need a permit.
The Democrats worst nightmare.
And armed citizenry who might not be all that interested in being ruled instead of represented.
