Guns sales and permits are on the rise in Delaware — the state recently identified to be the least dependent on the gun industry.
And at the same time, Delaware’s House Majority Leader has announced her intention to file legislation that would close the so-called “Charleston Loophole” by prohibiting federally licensed gun dealers from continuing with firearms transactions until a background check is returned. Current federal law requires background checks to be processed within three days before allowing the dealer to continue with the transaction at their discretion.
According to numbers from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, 4,886 background check applications were processed for Delaware in January — up more than 700 from the 4,133 processed last January, and nearly double the 2,486 checks processed in January 2014.
And according to local media reports, the number of concealed carry permit applications has been on a steady incline as well.
Delaware State News reports that the number of permits in the state climbed 56 percent from 2014 through 2015. According to their numbers, 2,614 permit applications were received in 2015 as opposed to 1,674 in 2014, and in December there were 348 permits applied for, which was more than double the 155 permit applications received the prior December.
Delaware Online attributes a bulk of the increase in firearms purchases and permit applications to nontraditional gun owners looking to defend themselves.
Delaware was recently identified as the state least-dependent on the gun industry nationwide by Wallethub. according to the report, Delaware was ranked 51st in the nation both in the size of the state’s firearms industry and the amount of political turbulence resulting from guns in the state. The First State was also listed at 48 for “gun prevalence.”
The ranking was attributed to comparing the firearms industry, gun prevalence and the gun politics of all 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine each state’s dependence on the gun industry.
In order to gauge firearms industry scores, the rankings took the number of industry jobs per 10,000 residents, the average wages and benefits of those jobs, the total output per capita and the total taxes paid per capita. Gun prevalence was judged by gun ownership and gun sales per 1,000 residents. And gun politics were determined by considering the contributions to congressional members per 100,000 residents by both gun-control and gun-rights groups.
The post Guns, permits on rise in state least dependent on gun industry appeared first on Guns.com.