PA Bill Number: SB945

Title: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals.

Description: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals. ...

Last Action: Third consideration and final passage (199-0)

Last Action Date: Apr 17, 2024

more >>

More events

Most Minnesota carry permit applications approved :: 03/05/2015

According to data released Monday by the Minnesota Department of Safety’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, nearly all applications for conceal and carry licenses last year were approved, a fact highlighted by an on-line news site, Bring Me The News.

As of Monday, according to agency data, there were 189,075 permits in circulation. Last year, 41,493 permits were issued by county sheriffs. Only 422 were denied. Another 15 permits were suspended, six were revoked and 22 were voided. The report also said that people with permits allegedly committed 1,320 crimes, of which more than half were traffic violations including driving while intoxicated.

So what? As this column reported Monday, the Evergreen State has nearly 483,000 active concealed pistol licenses. Recent estimates on the number of legally-armed citizens who can carry a defensive sidearm is in the neighborhood of 12 million-plus.

The Minnesota report came just days after a big story broke that there had been a possible terrorist threat against the Mall of America, which posts its premises off limits to citizen hardware. It’s not clear how many law-abiding citizens with carry permits pay much attention to those signs, or how many deliberately do not.

One thing is clear. All those law-abiding gun owners in Minnesota and their Evergreen State contemporaries should never be lumped together with the kind of idiot arrested by Seattle police Monday after allegedly firing a shot on a West Seattle street, then dashing inside a Walgreen’s and stashing what turned out to be a stolen handgun behind some diapers.

The unidentified star of this caper, according to the Seattle P-I.com, was with his girlfriend and their infant child, and her sister. He also has what the newspaper called a “felony history.” The Seattle Police Blotter was more direct. He’s a felon. He cannot have a firearm, and it’s a cinch that if he is linked to the stolen pistol, he never went through a background check to get it.

Yesterday in Wisconsin, two Madison men pleaded guilty to a string of armed robberies last year. Both men are convicted felons and could not legally possess firearms. They’re going to be sentenced in May to what could be life terms, according to the Portage Daily Register.

WTIC in Connecticut yesterday reported about the bad luck of an armed robbery suspect, who had a stolen handgun – no background check there – and used it in an attempted robbery Sunday. After he fired and slightly wounded one of his intended victims, that victim’s companion pulled a legally-carried handgun and shot the suspect, identified as Rumone Richard of Bridgeport. He faces charges of attempted murder, attempted robbery, conspiracy and firearms possession.

Last year, the Seattle Times published a report about Washington CPLs, and how about 25 percent of those were held by women whose primary interest was personal protection. This seems to alarm gun prohibitionists, who simply cannot acknowledge that a growing number of women aren’t too keen on being disarmed by regulatory extremism.

It wasn’t clear how many of the successful Minnesota carry permit applicants are women, but with stories like the ones from Wisconsin, Connecticut and West Seattle, there should be no great mystery why so many people are interested in packing sidearms. Two groups are alarmed about that: Criminals and gun prohibitionists.

-------------------------------

Got an opinion about this column? Share your thoughts in the "Comments" section below.