Wisconsin agency scrambles to keep up with concealed carry permit requests [rolex uhren watches]
Wisconsin's concealed carry law isn't even a month old, but thousands of your friends and neighbors already have permission to pack heat, and they're buying up the hardware to do it.
Wisconsin became the 49th state to allow residents to carry concealed weapons this month. Questions about liability still linger, but gun sales have increased across the state, and the state Justice Department has been deluged with so many permit requests it's already scrambling to keep up.
"Long time coming," said Matt Slavik, 58, of Brookfield. He hand-filed applications for himself and his wife at the Justice Department's Capitol office on the morning of Nov. 1, the first day the new law was in effect. He said he got permit No. 20 in the mail two days later; his wife got No. 86 a day after him. "It's been wonderful, just to put the sidearm on as I start the day. I just keep it underneath my shirt, and nobody knows. It's very comfortable."
The National Rifle Association had pushed concealed carry legislation in Wisconsin for most of the last decade but kept running into former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's veto. Republicans took control of the Legislature and the governor's office last year, though, and made concealed carry one of their top priorities. Gov. Scott Walker finally signed a bill this summer.
Under the law, state residents 21 or older who pass a background check and can prove they have taken firearms training can obtain a permit to carry concealed. Private property and business owners can choose whether to allow concealed weapons.
In the four weeks since the law took effect, gun sales have jumped. The Justice Department's handgun hotline, a number gun sellers can call to initiate background checks on would-be gun buyers, had received 7,355 calls between Nov. 1 and Monday; the line has averaged about 6,550 calls per month throughout the year. The record for monthly calls is 7,859.
Roger Wendling, owner of Monsoor's Sport Shop in La Crosse, estimates he's seen a 25 to 30 percent increase in handgun sales this month. Some of the more popular models have been .38-caliber Sig Sauers and Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolvers, both small, snub-nosed weapons that are easy to hide.
About 70 percent of the concealed carry clientele have been women, he said. They've leaned toward revolvers with laser sights and handbags with special compartments for hidden weapons, he said.
The state Justice Department, meanwhile, is wading through tens of thousands of permit requests. As of Tuesday, the agency had received 44,443 applications, approved 13,085 and issued 12,708 permits.
The agency had rejected about 3,000 requests, said Brian O'Keefe, administrator of DOJ's Law Enforcement Services Division. The reasons have varied, from not being a Wisconsin applicant to missing basic application information like date of birth or failing to enclose the $50 application fee.
Wisconsin became the 49th state to allow residents to carry concealed weapons this month. Questions about liability still linger, but gun sales have increased across the state, and the state Justice Department has been deluged with so many permit requests it's already scrambling to keep up.
"Long time coming," said Matt Slavik, 58, of Brookfield. He hand-filed applications for himself and his wife at the Justice Department's Capitol office on the morning of Nov. 1, the first day the new law was in effect. He said he got permit No. 20 in the mail two days later; his wife got No. 86 a day after him. "It's been wonderful, just to put the sidearm on as I start the day. I just keep it underneath my shirt, and nobody knows. It's very comfortable."
The National Rifle Association had pushed concealed carry legislation in Wisconsin for most of the last decade but kept running into former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's veto. Republicans took control of the Legislature and the governor's office last year, though, and made concealed carry one of their top priorities. Gov. Scott Walker finally signed a bill this summer.
Under the law, state residents 21 or older who pass a background check and can prove they have taken firearms training can obtain a permit to carry concealed. Private property and business owners can choose whether to allow concealed weapons.
In the four weeks since the law took effect, gun sales have jumped. The Justice Department's handgun hotline, a number gun sellers can call to initiate background checks on would-be gun buyers, had received 7,355 calls between Nov. 1 and Monday; the line has averaged about 6,550 calls per month throughout the year. The record for monthly calls is 7,859.
Roger Wendling, owner of Monsoor's Sport Shop in La Crosse, estimates he's seen a 25 to 30 percent increase in handgun sales this month. Some of the more popular models have been .38-caliber Sig Sauers and Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolvers, both small, snub-nosed weapons that are easy to hide.
About 70 percent of the concealed carry clientele have been women, he said. They've leaned toward revolvers with laser sights and handbags with special compartments for hidden weapons, he said.
The state Justice Department, meanwhile, is wading through tens of thousands of permit requests. As of Tuesday, the agency had received 44,443 applications, approved 13,085 and issued 12,708 permits.
The agency had rejected about 3,000 requests, said Brian O'Keefe, administrator of DOJ's Law Enforcement Services Division. The reasons have varied, from not being a Wisconsin applicant to missing basic application information like date of birth or failing to enclose the $50 application fee.
2011-11-28 12:33
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