This is being shown on FOX today. Includes some interesting "facts" below.
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/hillsborough/concealed_weapons_permits_rise_061709
Conncealed weapons permits on the rise
Updated: Wednesday, 17 Jun 2009, 7:22 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 17 Jun 2009, 7:22 AM EDT
Laura Moody
TAMPA - About a month ago, Audry Sauceda was carjacked and fought back.
He stuck a gun in my side and told me to get out of the car," Sauceda said while sharing her story with FOX 13 on May 15. "And I pulled out my gun and stuck it in his face, and told him, he needed to get out. He screamed and jumped out of the car."
Since the day Abby Griffith saw that news report, she's wondered what she would have done. Her friend, T.J. Sniffen, finally talked her in to coming down to the shooting range.
"The more he talked about it the more I was like I got to get involved in this," said Griffith, after firing her first rounds. "I've got to at least try it, try something new."
"I think she decided it wasn't as bad as it was cracked up to be," Sniffen said smiling.
Griffith won't be buying a gun anytime soon, but just who should have them is a topic she and T.J. have talked about a lot.
"Obviously, guns get into the wrong hands all the time," she said. "And those people will find ways to get guns, even with all the rules."
It's been almost a year now since the June 26, 2008 landmark ruling in which the Supreme Court overturned the strictest gun-control law in the country, a ban on handguns.
And since then, Florida has been dealing with a rush of requests for concealed weapons permits.
Back at the Shooting Sports Gun Range on Dale Mabry in Tampa, Range Officer Fritz Caspers has seen the number of people signing up for his concealed weapons class double.
"Initially, gun sales and the people that are getting concealed weapons permit were high because they were concerned about a catastrophic event like a Katrina, because of the economy," Casper said. "So people were coming in and buying full arsenals all at once, who had never had a gun before, but wanted something to defend themselves with."
Then, he says, November elections came and went.
"Everyone's concerned their gun rights are going to be limited on a federal basis," Casper said.
The Obama Administration has made no such action. But Casper says the status of the second amendment is still very gray.
Professor Gary Kleck, a Florida State University professor in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, has spent decades researching gun use.
Kleck's work has been cited in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. The case of District of Washington, D.C. v. Heller, the 5-4 ruling more specifically, prompted a new look at what research says about gun ownership in the U.S.
***************************
Here are some of Professor Kleck's figures and fast facts:
The U.S. is the most armed society in the history of the world.
There is a gun of some kind in almost one every two American households.
Gun Ownership is higher:
•among whites than blacks
•among the middle- aged than young
•among the rich than poor
•in rural areas than urban
An estimated 46% of the citizens in the U.S. own firearms
Only about 12% of U.S. burglaries take place when people are home, compared to 40-50% in England, Canada and the Netherlands, where gun laws are more restrictive and ownership is much lower.
Source: Professor Gary Kleck, Florida State University criminologist
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/hillsborough/concealed_weapons_permits_rise_061709
Conncealed weapons permits on the rise
Updated: Wednesday, 17 Jun 2009, 7:22 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 17 Jun 2009, 7:22 AM EDT
Laura Moody
TAMPA - About a month ago, Audry Sauceda was carjacked and fought back.
He stuck a gun in my side and told me to get out of the car," Sauceda said while sharing her story with FOX 13 on May 15. "And I pulled out my gun and stuck it in his face, and told him, he needed to get out. He screamed and jumped out of the car."
Since the day Abby Griffith saw that news report, she's wondered what she would have done. Her friend, T.J. Sniffen, finally talked her in to coming down to the shooting range.
"The more he talked about it the more I was like I got to get involved in this," said Griffith, after firing her first rounds. "I've got to at least try it, try something new."
"I think she decided it wasn't as bad as it was cracked up to be," Sniffen said smiling.
Griffith won't be buying a gun anytime soon, but just who should have them is a topic she and T.J. have talked about a lot.
"Obviously, guns get into the wrong hands all the time," she said. "And those people will find ways to get guns, even with all the rules."
It's been almost a year now since the June 26, 2008 landmark ruling in which the Supreme Court overturned the strictest gun-control law in the country, a ban on handguns.
And since then, Florida has been dealing with a rush of requests for concealed weapons permits.
Back at the Shooting Sports Gun Range on Dale Mabry in Tampa, Range Officer Fritz Caspers has seen the number of people signing up for his concealed weapons class double.
"Initially, gun sales and the people that are getting concealed weapons permit were high because they were concerned about a catastrophic event like a Katrina, because of the economy," Casper said. "So people were coming in and buying full arsenals all at once, who had never had a gun before, but wanted something to defend themselves with."
Then, he says, November elections came and went.
"Everyone's concerned their gun rights are going to be limited on a federal basis," Casper said.
The Obama Administration has made no such action. But Casper says the status of the second amendment is still very gray.
Professor Gary Kleck, a Florida State University professor in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, has spent decades researching gun use.
Kleck's work has been cited in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. The case of District of Washington, D.C. v. Heller, the 5-4 ruling more specifically, prompted a new look at what research says about gun ownership in the U.S.
***************************
Here are some of Professor Kleck's figures and fast facts:
The U.S. is the most armed society in the history of the world.
There is a gun of some kind in almost one every two American households.
Gun Ownership is higher:
•among whites than blacks
•among the middle- aged than young
•among the rich than poor
•in rural areas than urban
An estimated 46% of the citizens in the U.S. own firearms
Only about 12% of U.S. burglaries take place when people are home, compared to 40-50% in England, Canada and the Netherlands, where gun laws are more restrictive and ownership is much lower.
Source: Professor Gary Kleck, Florida State University criminologist
