Ohio gun permits spike

Law enforcement tells us that gun ownership spikes after high-profile shootings like the one in Orlando. And in Ohio, concealed carry permits and gun ownership are at an all-time high in Ohio, according to data from Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office. More than 500,000 residents – 4 percent of the total population – are permitted to carry concealed weapons.
County sheriff’s offices processed 36,118 new permits through the first three months of 2016, more than ever before.
In Williams County, Sheriff Steve Towns’ office processed 246 new permits during the first quarter of 2016, the biggest spike on record. During the first quarter of 2015, clerks processed 84. He told the Bryan Times that “We’ve never had to deal with issues involving permit holders in our area,” Towns said. “Guns are part of our general upbringing. Most of us are very familiar and responsible with them. That same respect just isn’t there in other places. Somebody gets murdered in southside Chicago every day. They have the toughest gun laws and the worst gun violence.”