COLUMBUS, OHIO — According to a quarterly report published by the Ohio Attorney General’s office, there are now an estimated half million concealed carriers living in the Buckeye state. This number constitutes somewhere in vicinity of four percent of the population. Is concealed carry growing or is it merely growing with normal population growth?
The Cincinnati.com news published an article highlighting the specifics of this report and generally noted that the rate at which concealed carry permits were being issued has been markedly up from previous quarters — 36,118 to be specific. This is supposed to be some record and shows a sharp spike in both applications and issuance.
That article cites Jim Irvine, president of the Buckeye Firearms Association board of directors, as saying that the increase is due to a decrease in the required amount of training time required for the application. The new requirement is eight hours of mandatory training versus the previous twelve hour training requirement.
That is one rational explanation for the increase. It could also be the changing viewpoint in the American public as a whole. Just in this past year, we’ve seen quite a few major events unfold that have brought awareness to the need for individuals to be able to defend themselves, their families, their businesses, and their property. It’s not just the mass shooting events, either. More and more stories surface on a daily basis of both concealed carriers and gun owners having to use deadly force to protect themselves.
The crime statistics have not notably changed much in the past few years but the visibility of those crimes have.
This decrease, however, does not indicate whether or not criminals are either becoming smarter about their targets and thus participating in fewer violent offenses or there’s just a lull.
One thing is for sure, the more concealed carriers that are out there, the greater the probability that a good guy with a gun will be ready, willing, and able to stop bad guys from ruining the day.