The Ohio Attorney General’s Office says the number of concealed carry permits have soared over the past year.
Officials say a record breaking, 82,000 permits have been issued from this year through the end of September. This is significantly higher than all of last year and according to Sheriff Matt Lutz, the same goes for Muskingum County.
"We kind of went through basically October, as a gauging point from the year 2012,” explained Lutz. “Through October, we had approximately 361 of new permits, the same time this year we have had 753, so it has pretty much doubled over the year."
Lutz says reissued permits within the past year are also on the rise. He also says he has a couple ideas to explain the surge.
"There are people that are very passionate about their right to own firearms, I think sometimes you can attribute it to he violence that’s going on in your communities or just nationwide. I think people feel safer when they have weapons around them."
Ohioans for Concealed Carry agree, saying the increase is because people want to carry out their second amendment rights. Organizations against gun violence are worried about the rise. In order for Ohioans to apply for a license, they must take a firearms safety training course.
