Seeking safety in the secret carry

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Seeking safety in the secret carry

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

WENATCHEE — New applications for concealed pistol licenses in NCW veered sharply upward at year’s end, as personal security and politics came to the fore.

World graphic/Jared Johnson

In November and December NCW residents applied for three times the average number of conceal pistol licenses sought in the prior 10 months.

In November, 99 people applied to carry a hidden handgun in Chelan County, 53 in Douglas County. Both figures were the highest for the year, local police agencies report ... until December, when Chelan saw 129 new applicants and Douglas, 77.

Permit requests in those two months were triple the average for the previous 10 months, spurred along by the November reelection of President Barack Obama — viewed by many as a harbinger of stiffer gun laws, despite Obama’s general inaction on the topic — and the December massacre of schoolchildren and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., after which the president convened a task force that offered broad new firearms restrictions Wednesday.

“Now that there’s the scare out there, that’s kind of a motivator, unfortunately,” said Justin Hope, assistant manager with High Mountain Hunting Supply in Wenatchee, which sells firearms.

The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office alone processed 681 new applications in 2012, up from 485 the year before. The trend may continue: Applications to both counties in the first two weeks of January were on pace to beat the totals from January 2012.

There were 8,041 concealed-carry licenses active in Chelan and Douglas counties as of last week, according to the Washington Department of Licensing. Women held 1,794 of those. Last year saw the highest number of new hidden-pistol licensing statewide, with 62,939 — a 25 percent increase over the year before and the highest number since 2009, when 56,604 licenses were issued.

Meanwhile, concerns over firearm sales restrictions sparked a local run on semi-automatic rifles, like those built on the popular AR-15 platform.

“It’s absolutely extraordinary,” said Gabriel Rodriguez, firearms expert at Hooked On Toys in Wenatchee. “It’s almost in a sense like a perfect storm, if you will.”

The price an AR-15 will fetch in the store has at least doubled in the last two months, Rodriguez said, from an $850-to-$950 range to $1,600 to $2,000.

Hope gestured to a display wall at High Mountain normally devoted to AR-15 frames, barrels and accessories. There were a handful of frames, but quite a few empty pegs.

“Prior to the big push, we had that wall chock full, and even had some back stock,” he said.

Wenatchee Valley rifle owners have caught on to the market, offering their own firearms for sale through the shops.

“A lot of guys have four or five in their safes, so what they’re doing is they’re bringing those into the store to make a buck,” Rodriguez said.

As political talk has turned to the ammo capacity of such weapons, even their magazines have become more valuable, with prices jumping from $15 to perhaps $60 or even $100, Hope said. One consignment seller brought in three such magazines for resale Monday morning.

Sales have also been strong in holsters, including those manufactured for concealed carry. And new pistol purchasers are also signing up for classes in proper handgun use, Rodriguez said.

“It’s not just, ‘I want a gun, I want a gun.’ The education of it, as well, has been big. People have questions and they want to learn.”

“When you carry a firearm, you carry the responsibility that goes along with it,” Hope said.

Jefferson Robbins: 664-7123

robbins@wenatcheeworld.com

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Dave 4 months ago

Obama, the best gun and ammo salesman four years in a row.

kyook 4 months ago

Can it finally be said that Obama has done something that was good for the economy?

sourtellinme 4 months ago

It's not PRESIDENT Obama. It's all the sheep that are following the main herder Limbaugh and all the other fear mongers. Talk about true capitalism. If the price has doubled in two months, with more debates coming on this issue, I'll bet the price will double again. $2,000.00 for a bang stick! What a waste of money.

JimboBear 4 months ago

"What a waste of money."

So, don't buy one if you don't care to spend that much. I doubt that I would pay $200 for one, unless I thought I could re-sell it for $2000, but I fail to see how it is any skin off your nose if you aren't going to buy one since you are against them to begin with. How can that be a waste of your money? What I spend MY money on is really none of your concern.

sourtellinme 4 months ago

If you were going to sell one,I assume,like a whole lot of people here do,you will have a background check run on the buyer and not skirt the law like tens of thousands of "responsible" gun owners which has been one of the driving forces of this mess we are in now. And what you spend your money on is none of my business. But if you or anybody else buy/sells one without the proper paperwork, it is not only my concern, but all other law abiding citizens as well.

davebugg 4 months ago

JimboBear 4 months ago

And I don't disagree with your stance on proper paperwork one bit Eugene. I have always questioned "gun shows" as a place that seemed too likely to bypass those regulations. I think once we get down to private sales by one individual to another (which would be mighty hard to regulate) though, we are going to have trouble enforcing that portion of the law. For instance, if you and I were well acquainted and I respected you as both an individual and your knowledge of guns, I think it would be pretty difficult for someone who has no idea who you are to tell me not to sell to you. I can't agree with registering each gun and requiring a transfer of that registration either. That really is an infringement of the 2nd amendment in my mind. We also have to consider that these are simply good intentions also. There will always be people out there who do not comply, so all we will or would be doing is putting a dent in the totals by restricting the honest folks because such laws won't touch the bad guys.

Dave 4 months ago

More people are killed in motor vehicle accident than guns. When you, or a dealer sells a car they do not check for license, insurance, or if you know how to drive. Why are gun owners expected to enforce the law?

davebugg 4 months ago

What law is being skirted, Eugene? There is no law requiring a background check for a private individual selling a gun to another individual, hence there is no law to skirt. In fact, current law will not even allow a private individual to access and use NICS to conduct a background check.

sourtellinme 4 months ago

My point exactly. Within an hour,I could go on the internet,find any type of gun, go buy it and use it in a crime. It's that easy. And there is nothing wrong with that?

JimboBear 4 months ago

",I could go on the internet,find any type of gun, go buy it and use it in a crime. It's that easy."

That is absolutely untrue Eugene. Here's a link to the home page of an online gun dealer's site.

http://www.gunbroker.com/

Go there and at the bottom of the right hand side bar you will see various links that explain the steps to buy guns on line. You seem to think that there are no restrictions on buying guns on line. Do yourself a favor and read it a bit. .What you will see there is the real story. This is typical of all gun sites and the same laws and rules apply.

Perhaps you think a site like Craig's List would bypass those regulations? Nope, gun sales and the sale of most related items is prohibited there too, and if some clown disguises such an ad by wording it so that they think it will not be noticed by anyone except buyers, you'll find that too will be caught. reported and the ad taken down. I flag every such ad that I see and I think many others do too because I often try to look at the ads and find them "flagged for removal.

davebugg 4 months ago

You have made no "point exactly", Eugene; quite to the contrary. In order to "skirt" a law, a law must exist to skirt. "Skirting" a law means that one is "breaking" a law. Since there is no law requiring in-state, non-gun store gun buyers and sellers to have a NICS background check no one is skirting anything. In fact, the FBI prohibits non-FFL sellers from accessing NICS.

It is also against federal and state laws for those who are not allowed to possess a firearm to buy one, no matter where it is purchased; or for anyone to knowingly sell a gun to someone who is not allowed to possess a firearm. You will find that, regardless of the existing law, those selling a firearm on a FTF (face-to-face) basis, will want you to verify who you are with the appropriate ID, and will create a bill-of-sell to keep for their records just in case any question comes up as to the sale.

So as long as the gun is purchased in this state, it may or may not be true that you can legally purchase over the internet. Just as it may or may not be legal for you to drive to Tacoma to purchase a private-sale firearm that was advertised in the Wenatchee World.

You most certainly cannot purchase a firearm for out-of-state transactions, though. UNLESS: 1. You have the firearm sent to a federally licensed firearms dealer for a NICS check and file the required paperwork. 2.You wish to be considered black market arms traffickers who a violating existing federal laws.

Since you think that a legal, private sale or purchase of an in-state gun is your own personal 'gotcha' moment, can you tell us just how many of these guns have been involved in illegal activities? You'll find that out of all the gun-related crimes that are committed each year, it ain't much. Which means that a NICS background check on such gun sales will have little, if any, practical effect on the overall rate of gun crime.

I have no problem with anyone selling or buying a firearm undergoing a NICS check, so long as it does not infringe on the right of the lawful to obtain and possess a firearm. So if this is the big issue that sticks in yer craw, Eugene, then I'm not yer huckleberry.

Oh, and +1 for what Jim has said.

maxpress 4 months ago

I have house and car inssurance that I have paid for the last 20yrs that I have never used. I have smoke detectors and fire extinguishers that have never been used. I have tire chains a repair kit and a 12v compressor. May be a waste of money but I am sure glad they are there.

sourtellinme 4 months ago

Wouldn't want a good crisis to go to waste

kyook 4 months ago

That's exactly what the left is doing, capitalizing on a horrific crime committed by a madman in order to further their agenda and punishing law abiding citizens in the process. Most shameful of all is trotting out the little kids to serve as props.

sourtellinme 4 months ago

At least they are alive to be there.

lonedog3 4 months ago

ummmmmm? Eugene, the left could care less about the alive ones! all they want is a body count to further their goals of destroying this country and it's values. The liberal news only cares about body counts! If they cared about the live children rather than a body count they would be concentrating their efforts on the unnecessary and bad medications that created these madmen that commit these horrible crimes.