PA Bill Number: HB1661
Title: Further providing for schedules of controlled substances; and providing for secure storage of xylazine.
Description: Further providing for schedules of controlled substances; and providing for secure storage of xylazine. ...
Last Action: Act No. 17 of 2024
Last Action Date: May 15, 2024
Conceal-and-carry licenses could jump 40 percent this year in Allegheny County :: 08/22/2016
Allegheny County could see a 40 percent increase in the number of licenses to carry a concealed weapon this year over last year, according to the deputy sheriff who oversees the office that issues them.
Deputy Sheriff Ryan Foster, speaking to about 300 residents attending a seminar hosted by two local state legislators Saturday morning in Oakdale, said his office in the Allegheny County Courthouse, Downtown, used to issue about 50 to 100 such licenses a day. But this year the office has typically issued 100 to 200 — or more — licenses a day.
“The numbers [of licenses issued] started to spike when I took over in 2015,” he said. “We issued 25,000 licenses to carry in 2015 … and we could issue 30,000 to 35,000 this year.”
Some attending the three-hour-long seminar featuring six speakers talking about gun rights, believed that the reason for the increase was simply better education about how to get the license and awareness that having a license makes you legal to have a gun in more situations.
“It’s not fear of ‘Oh my God. They’re going to come and take my guns,’ ” said John DeLallo, 67, a Bethel Park resident and gun owner who attended the hearing.
But Mr. Foster said those applying for the license made it clear to him and his staff what the main reason is.
“I believe that [the increase] is due to the terrorist attacks [on citizens],” he said in an interview after the seminar. “That’s what has been ascertained to me from the applicants.”
If Allegheny County hits the upper end of Mr. Foster’s estimate for the number of licenses issued this year — 35,000 — it would be more than double the number of conceal-and-carry licenses the county issued just four years ago in 2012, when 15,797 licenses were issued.
State Rep. Mark Mustio, R-Moon, and state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Jefferson Hills, said they hosted the meeting Saturday at the Pittsburgh Technical Institute, as part of their regular educational meetings for constituents.
“It’s educational,” Mr. Reschenthaler said in an interview. “The more information we can give to the public the better. This goes along with other sessions we’ve had on cyber bullying, or [paper] shredding. Plus, this fits in to the events going on.”
Mr. Mustio began the seminar by telling the crowd that data from the state police show that the number of annual gun sales have grown from 415,000 in 2006 to 755,000 in 2015, while violent crime dropped from 53,000 incidents in 2006 to 40,000 in 2014.
“Since gun sales have skyrocketed, violent crimes are down almost 25 percent,” he told a crowd that clapped enthusiastically in response, with some in the audience saying “Yes,” and “Beautiful,” while they clapped.
Asked later if he believed that there is a direct connection between the drop in violent crime and the increase in gun sales, Mr. Mustio said he did.
“People are aware now that more people are carrying,” he said in an interview. “There are even people in the [state] Legislature who have had to pull guns on people during incidents in Harrisburg. That’s a deterrent, just like [state] passage of the Castle Doctrine acts as a deterrent.”
Five years ago, the state approved a strengthening of the Castle Doctrine, that allows a person to defend themselves in their home with deadly force if they believe they are threatened, by including a “stand-your-ground” provision that gave similar protections outside the home.
Mr. Foster said when he was appointed by Allegheny County Sheriff Bill Mullen to oversee the three-person office that issues conceal-and-carry licenses, one of his mandates was to streamline the process to make it quicker and easier for people to obtain them.
As part of that, he eliminated a step whereby an applicant had to come in person Downtown to fill out the form, then wait for the office to run a background check, and mail back a response, then come back to the office to get the license. Now, everything can be done with one visit.
Now, he said, even though lines can still stretch out the door and onto the sidewalk of the courthouse some days, once you get to the counter “we can have you out of there in five to 10 minutes or less,” he told the crowd.
In addition, he said that the office didn’t offer opportunities out in the county to apply for a license, so he has begun doing four of them in different parts of the county on Saturdays.
One earlier this year in Elizabeth resulted in 3,000 people showing up. Even though a dozen deputies and staff stayed for 12 hours, only 444 licenses were processed that day — a one-day record.
