Growing numbers seeking permits for concealed handguns
Date: Apr 12, 2008 6:11 PM
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/04/growing-numbers-seeking-permits-concealed-handguns
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Growing numbers seeking permits for concealed handguns
Posted to: News Suffolk
Special report: State of the Gun

By Dave Forster
Kristin Davis
The Virginian-Pilot
? April 11, 2008

SUFFOLK

Christopher Corbett exercised one of his new rights soon
after turning 21: He applied for a concealed-handgun
permit.

He said his father, a police officer who has “seen the worst
of the worst,” was adamant.

“People should be able to protect themselves without
worrying if the police are going to get here in time,”
Corbett said.

The number of applications for concealed-handgun permits is
soaring across Virginia, including in Hampton Roads. People
don’t have to state a reason when they apply, so no one can
say with certainty what’s driving the trend.

But theories abound.

Some in the firearms industry say it’s a response to the
Virginia Tech shootings or the crime coverage of today’s
continuous news cycle. Some of the increases in recent
years may have been the result of expiring permits sought
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. One gun shop owner even
pointed to the uncertainty of the upcoming election.

Robert Marcus of Bob’s Gun Shop in Norfolk said demand for
the weekly concealed-carry instruction course there is so
high that he added another class this week. The sessions
take 35 people each.

Marcus said nearly 100 more have signed up for an online
course that he began offering April 3.

Locally, Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Portsmouth all saw
spikes in permit applications in 2007, but Suffolk saw the
largest increase by percentage.

The sprawling, historically rural but fast-growing city saw
applications jump 58 percent last year, and the first three
months of 2008 have it on pace for another record, thanks to
applicants such as Corbett and Donald Ryan.

Ryan, 72, sought a permit this year for the first time.
Health problems have put him in a wheelchair, and he and his
wife live at the end of a long street.

“There’s some really sick people out there,” he said.

A former police evidence technician who served in the Navy,
Ryan said he’s been around firearms all his life.

Getting a permit to carry a concealed weapon comes with “an
awesome responsibility,” he said. Guns should be used only
“if you are in fear of your life – period,” he said.
“Property crimes don’t count.”

This week he opened a letter from the sheriff’s office
letting him know that his application is almost through the
system.

On the notice were the words of caution that Suffolk Sheriff
Raleigh Isaacs Sr. includes for each applicant:

“I would like to remind you as to the careful handling of
firearms under the watchful eye of children.”

The number of concealed-carry permits in Virginia first
soared in 1995, the year that the law was liberalized to
give judges less discretion in denying permits.
Applications jumped to 32,869 – nearly four times the 1994
total, according to numbers compiled by the Supreme Court of
Virginia.

The statewide number, which includes applications for both
new permits and renewals, spiked again in 2002. Permits are
good for five years until they must be renewed, so some of
those post-9/11 applicants likely contributed to the recent
surge.

Statewide, applications jumped about 61 percent last year
from 2006, to about 44,000, according to the Supreme Court
figures. As of Thursday, the Virginia State Police database
contained 152,267 active concealed-carry permits.

Applicants must be at least 21 and pass a criminal
background check. They also have to answer a number of
questions, including whether they are subject to a
restraining order or are addicted to a controlled substance.
They also must prove they have received safety training.

In Suffolk, 194 people applied in the first three months of
2008. Scott Brown was among the 93 seeking a new permit,
not a renewal.

Brown, 52, applied in February, months after relocating from
Colorado. He said he has owned guns since childhood.

“I’ve always felt that was one of the responsibilities of
citizenship,” Brown said. “Every once in a while, we’ve got
these nut cases that just start shooting people. We would
complicate the lives of criminals if we all carried guns.”

Virginia Citizens Defense League President Philip Van Cleave
said highly publicized shootings such as the one at Virginia
Tech remind people that the government can’t always protect
them.

“The police can’t be everywhere at once,” he said. “If they
can’t be there, you’ve got a choice – e ither die or protect
yourself. More and more people are looking at it that way.”