Shooting Illustrated just published a piece highlighting the surge in pistol permits across North Carolina. The focus on the piece covers the urban areas of the state. Of course, most readers recall Wake County’s attempt to temporarily halt the pistol permit process back in March because of the Covid-19 lockdowns. Obviously, that didn’t go over well with Second Amendment supporters or the courts.
The bigger news in the piece might be that 2020 firearms sales have already likely surpassed 2019. Undoubtedly, this a response to the surge in homicide and other violent crimes in the state and nationally, as well as all the images of riots and urban unrest. The general uncertainty of the times in this Covid-19 era plays some role as well. I went out looking for .38 ammo and .30 carbine ammunition last weekend and came up empty. I’m sure that is not an uncommon experience right now, especially with more popular ammo.
On the pistol permit front, Shooting Illustrated notes, “By this time in 2019 the department had issued 9,632 handgun permits. So far this year, 25,180 have been approved.” Here are the stats from Guilford County:
It’s much the same in Guilford County, home to Greensboro, NC. NBC TV-affiliate WXII reports handgun permit applications are up 249.8 percent. In Charlotte’s Mecklenburg County, a WCNC TV indicated that the sheriff’s office “…has received more than 24,000 applications since March compared to roughly 7,000 during the same period last year.”
Instapundit linked to the story and if you read the comments you find shock from non-North Carolinian readers when they discover that we still have a county pistol permit system. Many states have scrapped those laws over the last decade.
As I’ve pointed out numerous times at Civitas and elsewhere; North Carolina is falling behind other states when it comes to Second Amendment protections. There are already federal background checks for firearms and our state needs to move beyond the Jim Crow era pistol permit process.
Furthermore, if the political left expands its power in North Carolina, there is a certainty that demand for guns and for permits are only going to skyrocket before gun control laws expand here.
