December 30, 2011
Increase in Firearm Permits in Des Moines
The numbers of people living in Iowa who have sought to apply for a permit to carry a handgun or another type of weapon has increased at a fantastic rate during the year of 2011 and overall in the state there has been an increase of permit applications of over a hundred and seventy percent versus 2010 and law enforcement officials are calling the significant increase a rather unbelievable occurrence. 2011 represented the first year in which sheriffs could deny fewer people permission to carry a gun and over ninety thousand people in the state applied for and were granted a weapons permit to carry a non-professional grade weapon such as Taurus handguns or rifles.
Information gathered from the counties in Iowa which sport the most citizens suggest that those particular counties experienced an even higher rate of firearms application during the first part of the year and various urban areas have seen a significant increase in applications in 2011. A sheriff in Cerro Gordo County says that the numbers of permits have been rising steadily all year and that interest has not waned at all. One reason why so many more people were offered permits has to do with a change in the law which means that a sheriff essentially has to allow anyone who applies for a permit the authorization to have it approved.
This is different from the practice before which said that a sheriff could deny any permit he wanted to and did not have to have a particular reason to do so. Another change in the permits includes the fact that new permits last five years whereas old permits lasted only a single year.
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