http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_10367271?source=most_viewed• To see the statute on gun permits and to download an application, click here or here.
LAS CRUCES — The number of Doña Ana County residents with permits to carry concealed handguns has more than doubled in less than a year.
Figures from the New Mexico Department of Public Safety show that, as of Friday, 951 people in Doña Ana County have a license to carry a firearm. And, a disproportionate number of them — 82 percent — are men. As of late last September, 455 residents in Doña Ana County had concealed-carry licenses — 373 were men and 82 were women.
Over the same time period, the statewide total went from about 7,000 to 10,687.
Firearm safety instructors and gun retailers said the spike can be attributed to current events and the gun-carrier's personal situation and experiences.
The state requires a training course to obtain a concealed carry permit. Eddie Garcia is one of the state-approved instructors, and teaches in
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Doña Ana and other counties.
He said he gets about 15 calls a day inquiring about the three-day course.
"It just depends on what's going on in people's lives," Garcia said, explaining the spike. "There's always a reason for wanting to do it. It's because something has happened to them that they want to protect themselves."
Rey Gonzales, owner of Custom Cartridge gun store in Las Cruces, said the reason for the spike in permits is crime.
"It shouldn't surprise you," he said. "Crime's up, concealed carry goes up. Especially with the stuff going on across the border."
The state's concealed carry law was signed in 2003. By the end of 2004, the first full year the law was in effect, 121 permits had been granted in Doña Ana County. A total of 786 men have licenses in the county, including one between the ages of 95 and 99.
The figures also show that if you're a man, the older you are, the more likely you are to have a concealed carry license.
A breakdown by gender shows 21 men between the ages of 20 and 24 had license. That drops to 20 for the ages of 25 to 29. But the number steadily increases from there, topping out at 126 licenses for men between the ages of 60 and 64.
"They're more vulnerable to (crime)," gunsmith Emerson Gates said of older individuals. "They can feel it. They want to do whatever they can to ameliorate that."
Women between the ages of 50 to 54 accounted for 37 of 165 licenses issued to women in Doña Ana County.
Nifty! I still need to get on the stick and find time to get mine. I gotta find a weekend, an instructor and hop-to.\
1,000 people = about 0.5% of our population.
In the comment section someone wrote about paranoia. This response is one of the best things I've ever read: "Why is firearm paranoia, and fire extinguisher preparation?" The commenters also mention our university restriction, WHICH, by the way, I haven't received a response from either my State Senator or State Rep.
. Guess I oughta call them??
