From April through June of this year – the most recent statistics readily available – the following number of concealed carry permits were issued in area counties:
Butler: 542
Champaign: 72
Clark: 139
Darke: 168
Greene: 303
Miami: 142
Montgomery: 889
Preble: 80
Warren: 614
Statewide: 19,608
UPDATE@2:31 p.m.:
Terrorist attacks in Paris followed by Black Friday sales are seen as factors in an heightened interest in owning firearms, a concern unlikely to fade with Wednesday’s mass shooting in San Bernadino.
Black Friday this year set a record for the number of people applying for FBI background checks to purchase firearms. The traditional holiday sales kickoff came on the heels of the France attack that killed more than 100 and Wednesday’s shootings that left at least 14 dead.
Both attacks were cited for a spike in questions about personal safety that had one weapons instructor’s phone “ringing off the hook” Thursday.
“We’ve had people who’d never dreamt they’d be in that position come in taking training….on what kind of gun to get before they go out and buy a gun because that’s very important,” said Jeff Pedro, owner of SimTrainer Indoor Range and Firearms Training Center.
First report:
Black Friday this year set a record for the number of people applying for FBI background checks to purchase firearms. And if history is any indication, gun sales are likely to skyrocket further in the wake of the mass shooting in San Bernadino, Calif. this year.
Behind the 185,345 background checks sought on Nov. 27, the second highest day for gun sales came Dec. 21, 2012 – days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
The numbers represent the number of background checks initiated through the National Incident Criminal Background Check System. It does not represent the number of firearms sold.
In Ohio last month, there were 34,878 background checks for pistols and 31,817 checks for long guns.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office meanwhile has seem similar spikes in the number of people applying for permits to carry a concealed weapon.
Bankground checks aside, some gun shops are experiencing a drop in sales because of an oversaturated market in the Dayton area, said John Thyne, owner of Peabody Sports on Ohio 48 in Centerville.
While Black Friday sales at Peabody were the most in about 18 months, Thyne said his shop’s November sales were down 16 percent from a year ago.
Thyne said sales were “in my time, unprecedented” following the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings in Newtown, Conn. in December 2012, but have dipped since.
“We’ve dug deep into the potential marketplace,” he said. “And now people have a ton amount of guns.”
Locally, he said, the economy has people hesitant to spend on weapons. Also, “we have an overabundance in the Greater Dayton market selling guns.”
Thyne said his shop has seen “a little increase” in gun sales for personal protection. He said that accounts for about 50 percent of his shop’s sales.
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