Desk Jockey
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My permit is counted in that group!
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=19576&template=article.html
Concealed-gun permits highest in state
By ED SEALOVER THE GAZETTE
February 27, 2007 - 12:34AM
DENVER - El Paso County, which already had the largest number of residents with permits to carry concealed weapons, took an even bigger leap ahead of the rest of Colorado last year.
A total of 1,123 county residents received new permits in 2006 — 79 percent more than second-place Jefferson County, which issued 629 permits.
The figures for 2006 were released Monday by the County Sheriffs of Colorado.
El Paso County has given out 8,411 concealed-weapons permits in the past 12 years, and Sheriff Terry Maketa estimated nearly 7,000 of them remain active.
Theories vary as to why the permits are so popular in El Paso County and why there was such a sharp rise in 2006. Maketa issued just 822 in 2005.
Maketa said he thinks part of the reason is the county’s large military population, especially soldiers who moved to Fort Carson from Texas or who rotated back from Iraq last year.
Colorado Springs City Councilman Bernie Herpin, treasurer of the Pikes Peak Firearms Coalition, said he thinks that El Paso, as the first county that began issuing permits without requiring people to state a reason for needing them in the mid-1990s, attracts gun-rights supporters.
“There is a large contingency of folks who believe in personal defense and the Second Amendment,” Herpin said.
Maketa also said he thinks that El Paso County’s numbers look inflated because the county’s population is so large, but that the percentage of residents with concealedweapons permits is the same as the rest of the state — 1.5 percent.
But figures show that residents of the Pikes Peak region love their concealed weapons more than most of their Front Range counterparts.
Teller County issued 263 permits in 2006 — 62 more than Denver County, which has roughly 27 times its population.
Maketa said he sees no reason to be worried, noting that only about 1 percent of permits have been revoked.
The county took back just four permits in 2006, three because of arrest records and one for a reason listed as discretionary.
“I think it’s a good thing,” Maketa said. “We’re giving them to law-abiding citizens, people who have had a background check.”
Sen. John Morse was serving as the Fountain police chief when the Legislature passed a law allowing such permits to be issued statewide without requiring a reason in 2003, and he said he feared it would increase violence.
The Colorado Springs Democrat now says that his concern was unfounded, but that he still argues with concealed-weapons supporters who say the proliferation will reduce crime.
“I’ve talked to plenty of bad guys in my day. Believe me, the last thing they’re worried about is whether or not you have a gun,” said Morse, who is sponsoring a bill that would make it more difficult to grant reciprocity to such permits from other states. “There’s an excellent chance that the gang-banger you’re going up against has a gun, too.”
Maketa has conducted studies showing permit-holders only carry their weapons about 30 percent of the time, most often when they are in their cars.
No area of the county has a monopoly on permits, he said.
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=19576&template=article.html
Concealed-gun permits highest in state
By ED SEALOVER THE GAZETTE
February 27, 2007 - 12:34AM
DENVER - El Paso County, which already had the largest number of residents with permits to carry concealed weapons, took an even bigger leap ahead of the rest of Colorado last year.
A total of 1,123 county residents received new permits in 2006 — 79 percent more than second-place Jefferson County, which issued 629 permits.
The figures for 2006 were released Monday by the County Sheriffs of Colorado.
El Paso County has given out 8,411 concealed-weapons permits in the past 12 years, and Sheriff Terry Maketa estimated nearly 7,000 of them remain active.
Theories vary as to why the permits are so popular in El Paso County and why there was such a sharp rise in 2006. Maketa issued just 822 in 2005.
Maketa said he thinks part of the reason is the county’s large military population, especially soldiers who moved to Fort Carson from Texas or who rotated back from Iraq last year.
Colorado Springs City Councilman Bernie Herpin, treasurer of the Pikes Peak Firearms Coalition, said he thinks that El Paso, as the first county that began issuing permits without requiring people to state a reason for needing them in the mid-1990s, attracts gun-rights supporters.
“There is a large contingency of folks who believe in personal defense and the Second Amendment,” Herpin said.
Maketa also said he thinks that El Paso County’s numbers look inflated because the county’s population is so large, but that the percentage of residents with concealedweapons permits is the same as the rest of the state — 1.5 percent.
But figures show that residents of the Pikes Peak region love their concealed weapons more than most of their Front Range counterparts.
Teller County issued 263 permits in 2006 — 62 more than Denver County, which has roughly 27 times its population.
Maketa said he sees no reason to be worried, noting that only about 1 percent of permits have been revoked.
The county took back just four permits in 2006, three because of arrest records and one for a reason listed as discretionary.
“I think it’s a good thing,” Maketa said. “We’re giving them to law-abiding citizens, people who have had a background check.”
Sen. John Morse was serving as the Fountain police chief when the Legislature passed a law allowing such permits to be issued statewide without requiring a reason in 2003, and he said he feared it would increase violence.
The Colorado Springs Democrat now says that his concern was unfounded, but that he still argues with concealed-weapons supporters who say the proliferation will reduce crime.
“I’ve talked to plenty of bad guys in my day. Believe me, the last thing they’re worried about is whether or not you have a gun,” said Morse, who is sponsoring a bill that would make it more difficult to grant reciprocity to such permits from other states. “There’s an excellent chance that the gang-banger you’re going up against has a gun, too.”
Maketa has conducted studies showing permit-holders only carry their weapons about 30 percent of the time, most often when they are in their cars.
No area of the county has a monopoly on permits, he said.
