WI: Concealed Carry Permits top 320,000 at end of 2016

Wisconsin topped 320,000 concealed carry permits by the end of December, 2016.  As of January 7th, 2017, there were 321,200 active permits. 3,218 new permits were added in December, according to a Wisconsin Department of Justice source. Some permits are expiring, so the rate of increase of active permits has slowed.

There were 315,263 active permits at the end of September, 2016.

Wisconsin has one of the best and most easily accessible shall issue concealed carry permit systems in the nation.  No fingerprints or picture is required. The permit fee is $40, and the training requirement is easily met in a number of ways.

There has been almost no abuse of the permits by permit holders. Permit holders in general are some of the most law abiding people in the United States, with crime rates far lower than police officers.

Only one Wisconsin permit holder has been convicted of an unjustified homicide.  That was a man who claimed self defense.  The jury disagreed and convicted him of manslaughter. With the one unjustified homicide, Wisconsin permit holders have a lower homicide rate than Japan.

The world rate for homicides is 7.6 per 100,000.  The U.S. rate was 4.5 per 100,000 for 2014.  The Wisconsin rate was 2.9 per 100,000.  Japan’s rate was .3 per 100,000, still three times higher than the rate for Wisconsin Concealed Permit holders.

The fly in the lovely picture of Wisconsin concealed carry permits is that they are only available to Wisconsin residents.  Most states allow non-residents to obtain permits. Florida and Utah have made a mini-industry of the practice. If only 100,000 people in the rest of the United States applied for a Wisconsin permit, over 4 million dollars would pour into Wisconsin Department of Justice coffers.

The Wisconsin permit would be popular for all the reasons stated above.  Utah charges $37 for a resident permit, and an addition $10 for a non-resident permit. If Wisconsin did the same, it would bring in another million to the State.  Utah has 424,325 non-resident permits and 228,395 resident permits as of June 30, 2016.  It is likely that Wisconsin could top those figures, making the 5 million dollars for the State DOJ an annual increase.

Wisconsin permits can be applied for online.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

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