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More gun owners than ever purchased concealed carry permits for handguns in Montgomery County in 2013, according to newly released state data.
Ohioans seeking concealed carry permits also reached an all-time high last year —145,342 new licenses and renewals were issued — and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office was flooded with more renewal and new applicants than any other county in the state.
Since Ohio’s concealed carry law was implemented nearly a decade ago, typically between 1,000 and 2,500 people have bought permits at the county’s office every year. That figure nearly doubled last year to 4,944 permits.
The law allows Ohio’s handgun owners, who have had training, to buy a permit that allows them to discreetly carry weapons in certain public areas. Those interested getting a permit must go through their county sheriff’s office for approval.
Across the state, county sheriff’s offices processed 30 percent more new concealed carry permits than in 2012.
Butler County matched the state’s 30-percent jump in new permit holders, which Butler County Sheriff’s Office Chief Anthony Dwyer attributes to an increase in discussions about gun control and mass shootings. He said the office’s website page dedicated to concealed carry is getting more hits and staff take more calls from residents interested in permits following the aftermath of deadly shootings.
“Whenever there’s some highly publicized act of violence (like) the mass shootings, we’ll see an uptick in people’s concerns,” Dwyer said. “Whenever there’s a shooting, (people) talk about gun control and there’s a knee-jerk reaction to get your permit.”
Revenue stream
Those permits have been moneymakers, Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer said. Each new concealed carry application costs $67 — a price set by the state. Most of that money goes to the cost of processing the application and the equipment, such as fingerprinting tools, used to check the applicants.
With the uptick in the number of gun-toting residents, the sheriff was able to hire a new staffer last year to process permits. He currently has a sheriff’s deputy and a civilian worker, who are paid using permit fee revenues, a total of roughly $150,000 in annual salaries, to process applicants Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“I hired a second person and they’re rocking and rolling down there,” Plummer said of the county’s concealed carry processing. “It created a second job for us.”
Plummer said he’s made it a priority to turn around applications for concealed carry permit within 24 hours — and word has gotten out. Residents can apply for a permit in any neighboring county, and that’s led some gun-carriers to flock to Montgomery where, unlike other counties, applicants don’t have to schedule an appointment to get a permit.
“I see it as somebody’s constitutional right (to conceal carry). It’s a priority for me to get them through quicker,” Plummer said.
Neighboring counties, including Greene and Clark, also saw gains in the number of permits issued. Greene County boasted a roughly 40 percent increase in new permits while Clark County saw a 15 percent jump. Warren County, however, saw a 20 percent decrease. Warren County’s department, however, doesn’t have a full-time staffer dedicated to processing permits, Warren County Sheriff Sgt. Brian Hounshell said.
Good for business
Regional increases in the number of concealed carry permit-holders have kept business steady for Wendy Monroe, the vice president of 22three Inc., a gun store in Lebanon. The gun shop, which even sells concealed carry purses, offers training classes for those seeking a permit.
“There definitely has been an increase in people wanting training, concealed carry training specifically,” Monroe said. “We’ve added classes to meet the demand. A lot of people tell me, ‘This has been on my list of things to do for a long time. Now is the time to do it.’ ”
But those number worry Amy Pulles, the Director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, which is based in Columbus.
“We do not support the concealed carry of firearms in Ohio,” she said. “We feel that the public has a right to know who, in their presence, is carrying a firearm.”
Montgomery County was forced to either suspend or revoke the licenses of roughly 90 carriers last year. Licenses can be revoked when a residents moves out of state or dies, but suspension and revocations also can be the result of a concealed carrier being arrested for certain crimes, such as domestic abuse, or being committed to a mental health facility.
John Davis, the Centerville Police Department’s community relations officer, said city officers haven’t run into any issues with residents abusing their concealed carry permits — nor have permits saved any lives or prevented crimes, to his knowledge.
One of the biggest benefits to the law, he argues, is the requirement for concealed carry gun owners to get a combined 12 hours of classroom and gun range training. Under Ohio law, concealed carriers must get that training, but the average gun owner isn’t required to seek out such training.
“I’ve always maintained that the people that are going to get permits are not the people we have to worry about,” Davis said.
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