Record numbers of Missourians preparing for armed self-defense

    Oleg Volk photo

While the enormous--and sustained--spike in sales of firearms and ammunition has been well documented for over half a year now, less discussed is the phenomenon of  more and more people seeking to take responsibility for their own defense.  Missouri, including the St. Louis area, provides an excellent case in point.

In the St. Louis area, the surge is most marked in St. Charles, Warren, Lincoln and Jefferson counties, where applications for the first four months of 2009 are between 114 percent and 144 percent higher than for the same period last year, according to data provided by sheriff's departments.

In St. Louis, applications are up 49 percent this year, and St. Louis County's have risen 53 percent. Illinois does not allow concealed carry.

That, no matter how you slice it, is a marked increase.

Statewide, the story is much the same, if not more dramatic.

In Missouri, no central database exists for new permits, but the Highway Patrol tracks the mandatory criminal background checks it performs for new applicants.

The patrol did 14,333 checks in 2004, the first year the permits were issued in Missouri. The number never came close until 2008, when it spiked dramatically to 18,466. However, through the third week of May this year, the number of checks had already reached 14,088. Most applicants pass the background check and get a permit.

I've already quoted an article that attributed the fact that the number "spiked dramatically" in 2008 to fears of new gun laws.

"I know Obama said he wouldn't take away any of our gun rights but that remains to be seen," said Glen Hirsch, who was buying a gun on a recent day.

In Springfield, concealed carry courses are booked full through April.

"I want to be able to have it when I need it," said Kevin Hale of Aurora.

Instructors even added Sunday sessions.

"The demand for this course has pretty much tripled over what it was a year ago," said Randy Gibson, a concealed-carry weapons class instructor.

At this rate, though, the (record-setting, so far) 2008 numbers will be eclipsed by mid-August. 

Back to the first linked-to article--what is driving this?

"People just don't feel safe, whether it's with the political structure or the economic situation," said Noelle Fearn, assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at St. Louis University.

Who can blame people?  The economy is whithering, police budgets are being slashed, and at the same time, restrictive gun laws--laws that would make it harder for people to obtain life-saving firepower--have once again moved to the front burner.

Harrison of Warren County said he believes the trend is a sign of the times.

"I know people who have not put in gardens before who are now," he said. "People who didn't hunt before are, and they are freezing the meat. They're stockpiling guns and ammo, and it's for protection against those who would come and take what they've got."

Nor is this trend limited to Missouri:

Schmidt and Rosenfeld agreed that the increase in new permits appears to be happening in every state that allows concealed carry. No organization tracks the numbers nationally, but both said they had heard and read similar accounts from across the country.

It's  a jungle out there, and likely to become yet more savage before it gets better.  Armed citizens, though, have an exemption to the survival of the fittest rule that  generally reigns supreme in nature.  Armed, trained, and determined citizens can prevail against predators who are larger, younger, stronger, and more merciless than they are.

They can, and they must.