Delaware Online: "Gun purchases surge in Delaware"

[Paladin4CA]

Delaware gun purchases surged in December and January – an increase fueled by nontraditional gun owners seeking protection, firearm sellers and advocates say.

A total of 12,556 federal background checks were conducted for people buying guns in Delaware during the previous two months, according to data from the FBI – a 26 percent jump over December 2014 to January 2015. Gun vendors must submit a background check request to the FBI for the purchase of any firearm.

“Much of that was due to an increase in handgun sales used for personal safety,” said Bob Miller, owner of Miller’s Gun Center in New Castle, who credited recent high-profile mass shootings nationally with driving demand. “There’s a concern (about safety) that’s media-driven.”

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Miller said what is new for the most recent and larger surge is that more business people, such as real estate agents, are now buying guns because of a perception that crime is growing in suburban areas. Federal data does not indicate the gender or profession of gun purchasers.

“They hear about robberies, and the line I always hear is, ‘I never thought it would happen here,’ ” Miller said. “People are carrying their guns to and from work now.”

The number of Delawareans who applied for a permit to be able to carry a concealed weapon while in public more than doubled to 348 in December 2015 from a year before.

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A total of 104 violent crimes occurred in Newark in 2014, according to the FBI, the lowest rate among Delaware’s three largest cities. In Wilmington, which has more than twice the population of Newark, there were 1,174 violent crimes in 2014. In Dover, there were 242.

<snip>

Phil Parke, a state-authorized gun safety trainer in Wilmington, estimated the number of women passing through his day-long courses increased about 30 percent during the past year. Many of them have expressed similar concerns to Carpio’s, pointing to crime as the reason they want to carry a gun in public.

“There are more mothers and daughters in class,” he said, “and husbands and wives.”

<snip>

Beth Parsons, owner of Shooter’s Choice gun store in Dover, also teaches gun safety courses and estimates she has seen 60 percent more women in her classes during the last year. Crime is becoming “more of a reality” in Kent County, she said, and people are afraid they might not be able to buy a gun in the future because of possible future restrictive gun laws.

Delaware’s current gun rules are reasonable, she said. Background checks and gun safety courses are necessary to ensure that responsible people own those deadly weapons, she said.

“If you’re a law-abiding citizen, you shouldn’t have any problem with” the laws, she said.

More at:
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2016/02/14/gun-purchases-surge-delaware/80021834/

Be sure to vote in the Delaware Online poll whether having a gun makes you feel more safe or less safe. We're currently ahead ~83% to ~17%.

[SturmRugerSR9]

Daily poll on the News Urinal the other day was: Would you feel safer with a gun in your home?

Answer: Whopping 84% said yes they would. Good to hear!

[MarkB]

I noticed something in the article: You can buy the photos used in the article.  I've never seen this on other sites.  I know you can contact the newspaper or site and ask to by photos, but I have not seen it before actually posted on a photo.  So your photo with a gun can be used in an anti-gun ad.

[SturmRugerSR9]

Appears that way. But, then again, it is the Wilmington News Urinal. As far as I'm concerned it is still a Liberal city rag paper.

[Adrenolin]

Lots of sites offer to sell their photos. Just another way to augment profits is all. Many people toss their photos up on sites like smugmug and other such sites and do the same with their personal photographs. Nothing new 

[Federal Firearm]

alarming how many guns are reported stolen...didn't know it was that high.....