(Photo: Wilton Bulletin)
Last year was a huge year for gun permits in The Constitution State, according to a report in The Wilton Bulletin.
Connecticut State Police issued a total of 29,941 permits in 2016, a 73 percent increase from 2015 when 17,127 permits were issued.
“We don’t know why,” Trooper Kelly Grant, spokesman for the state police said in response to the question concerning the spike in applications. “Everyone who gets a pistol permit has a different reason for wanting a gun.”
Leave it to Mike Bazinet, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry’s trade association, to shed some light on this mystery.
“It was a record year for firearms sales across the country, and an all-time record for criminal background checks to get a handgun permit,” said Bazinet.
“One factor certainly was the concern that a Clinton administration would try to impose stringent gun control laws,” Bazinet continued. In Connecticut, another factor came into play as well. That factor was the strict 2013 gun control laws in the state that made it impossible to buy ammunition without a permit.”
Yup, along with New York, California and several others, Connecticut passed sweeping gun control legislation in the wake of the 2012 killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
“You need an ammunition permit now, and a pistol permit covers all future acquisition of firearms, so it drove people to seek pistol permits,” Bazinet said. “The permits are up even more than they would have gone up anyway, just based on Hillary Clinton running for office. So it was an unintended effect of the gun control law. I am aware of people who have gotten a pistol permit just to buy ammunition, and not even bought a pistol.”
To get an idea of the scope of the increase, the local paper gave out this data which is the number of gun permits per 100 residents for some towns in Fairfield County, followed by the total number of permits and the number purchased in 2015 and 2016.
Shelton — 20.95 per 100, for a total of 8,382. Permits numbered 271 in 2015 and 456 in 2016, an increase of 40%.
Redding — 20.12 per 100, for a total of 1,852. Permits numbered 32 in 2015 and 65 in 2016, an increase of 50%.
Monroe — 19.01 per 100, for a total of 3,731. Permits numbered 108 in 2015 and 201 in 2016, an increase of 46%.
Easton — 18.82 per 100, for a total of 1,421. Permits numbered 52 in 2015 and 86 in 2016, an increase of 39%.
Milford — 15.72 per 100, for a total of 8,316. Permits numbered 411 in 2015 and 563 in 2016, an increase of 27%.
Trumbull — 14.41 per 100, for a total of 5,224. Permits numbered 159 in 2015 and 320 in 2016, an increase of 50%.
Stratford — 13.34 per capita, for a total of 6,986. Permits numbered 299 in 2015 and 445 in 2016, an increase of 48%.
Weston — 11.92 per 100, for a total of 1,223. Permits numbered 37 in 2015 and 64 in 2016, an increase of 42%.
Ridgefield —11.14 per 100, for a total of 2,767. Permits numbered 78 in 2015 and 151 in 2016, an increase of 48%.
Wilton —10.41 per 100, for a total of 1,911 gun permits, according to the state police. Permits numbered 44 in 2015 and 96 in 2016, an increase of 54%.
New Canaan — 9.32 per 100, for a total of 1,858. Permits numbered 74 in 2015 and 88 in 2016, an increase of 16%.
Norwalk — 8.38 gun per 100, for a total of 7,250. Permits numbered 283 in 2015 and 460 in 2016, an increase of 38%.
Westport — 7.83 per 100, for a total of 2,097. Permit increase was not available.
Darien — 7.02 per 100, for a total of 1,468. Permits numbered 98 in 2015 and 122 in 2016, an increase of 19%.
…….The Nutmeggers have to give their Un-American Senator and the rest of the Lefty Liberal Politicians currently in Office the 12 inch boot!!,…….
It amazes me how so stupid that there are a bunch of overnight experts of the US Constitution, many who are probably Jr high school dropouts. Now, these NRA members & non-members grown boys want to parade around in public with a rifle and exposed pistols and other types of firearms. The USA have a “A well-regulated militia” the Army, Marine, FBI, Secret Service, National Guard, State & Local Law Enforcement. They do not need gun crazy & untrained civilians (being necessary to the security of a free state), like you’ll to assist them in case of a foreign invasion. I have yet to read or hear of any of you supporting Gun Control for criminals. Gun control that will to keep firearms and explosives out of the hands of NON-US citizens, felons and the persons who have been diagnosed with a mental ailment (the right of the people to keep and bear arms). What is needed is States write new severe laws with penalties that will be the same in ALL US states for unlawful use, selling and possession of firearms. And because of you’ll warp thinking, neither you’ll or me will ever see a good Conceal Handgun License that is valid in ALL 50 states like a driver license. The US states should have the right to infringe.
You do know that “Criminals” DO NOT OBEY LAWS” Right? Laws only affect the law abiding citizen. And lets not forget that Obo and company pardoned criminals with firearm convictions, so much for enforcement. So lets ENFORCE the laws on the books before we create more huh. And by the way gun ownership is a Right, like freedom of speech and religion. not a privilege like driving.
Talk about a Junior High School dropout there Harold. There were so many misspelled words and grammar mistakes in your comment I had a hard time following what you were trying to say. It is important for all Americans to be armed because of our Government’s well regulated militia. Not from foreign invasion. We don’t need any more laws on the books to punish gun crimes we just need the ones we have to be enforced. This is something that Liberals are grossly lacking in. They coddle criminals and are only interested in disarming the general population so no one will be able to resist when they turn the U.S. into a Socialist Country. The Second Amendment is an individual right not a state right. The Bill of Rights was written to protect personal rights and anyone who thinks differently is a fool or a Liberal. Not much difference in the meaning of those two things. That means that the States DO NOT have the right to infringe on my Second Amendment Rights.
…..You sound like the typical Lefty Liberal uneducated fool!!,…….
Not only do I favor gun control for criminals, I oppose pardoning convicted violators of those laws – another last-minute present Obama left to America, turning convicted felons guilty of breaking Federal law by possession of firearms out on our streets.
As far as “overnight experts of the US Constitution (sic)”, every American ought to be aware of every one of their civil rights. Your interpretation of the “well-regulated militia” clause in the Second Amendment is held not to restrict the application of the right to keep and bear arms by at least two recent US Supreme Court decisions.
So go back to the Close Cover Before Striking Law School, where you got your information and ask for your tuition back..
Chock full of liberals, Connecticut citizens buying guns to protect themselves from Trump voters…..but not from the real facists who are in the habit of attacking Trump voters.
Nice to hear that not every citizen of The Constitutional State has succumbed to the liberal disease of hoplophobia.
No doubt some libs there are pooping their drawers at the knowledge that they may at times be out amongst a public of whom 1 out of 5 could be carrying. Ever see how nervous a long-tail cat is, in a room full of rocking chairs?
I have all kinds of trouble with numbers like these: probably my attentiondeficitdisorder and lysdexia.
Tried to do some diggin’ on wikipedia. . . .it says that the population of Fairfield County is about 916,000. (Population of Connecticut is about 3.6 million.) The data published by the local paper said these numbers were for ‘some’ towns in Fairfield County indicating that MORE permits were issued than published. Not sure how many households there are but, with just what was published there’s a cumulative total of about 54,500 permits in Fairfield County? . . .that’s 6% of the entire population of that county; an average of 6 permits per 100 people?! Weird that six percent also (3117) of those 54.5k permits were issued in 2016! Shelton & Milford look like pretty safe places to live, eh? Ulterior motives or not, ‘nice that the local paper picked up on this…rational thieves won’t bother these folks.
I have live in CT all my life (60years) and the last 5 or so there have been a very big increase in the amount of people at the rangers, in Gun stores and at shooting clubs and not just “White Males” there brown,black ,yellow,woman – everybody ok There are all gunning up because there scared , Scared of the unknown? Crime, unemployment, taxes, our government, the election, Hillary,/Trump, jobs – Everything . Conn. Is in the worst shape it been since wwll. It’s a little crazy out there all around the world and it looks like history is repeating itself again from 100 years ago Not good,not at all.
Guys…no offense, but you better check your math……you don’t calculate a percentage increase using the new, higher number. It appears all your increases are incorrectly calculated, and actually much higher than you stated,….
Jeffrey’s absolutely right. The easy way is to divide the large number by the smaller and subtract 1. In GA’s defense, they simply copied the original article from the Wilton Bulletin and the Bulletin got the numbers all wrong. The 73% in the headline is pretty close (actually almost 75%), but the city-by-city increases are way low.
You are correct. This site isn’t really known for scholarship, grammar, punctuation, spelling, or things like that. It makes gun people look stupid, which bugs me. C’mon GunsAmerica, git sum lernin.