Interest in conceal permits below expectations

From staff and wire reports

Concealed-carry permits aren't the hot ticket some Missouri officials had predicted, with applications in the nine months since the law took effect running far below expectations.

Based on response to similar laws in Texas, Oklahoma and other states, the Missouri State Highway Patrol estimated the first year would produce 60,000 applications for permits to carry a concealed weapon.

Not all counties are issuing permits, and those that do keep their own records. The best indication of statewide application figures is the number of requests county sheriffs made to the patrol for background checks on people seeking the permits. That number was 13,748 since the law took effect in March to November.

In Cape Giraradeau County, 283 people have applied for concealed carry permits so far this year. In Scott County the number comes to 219, including 4 applications submitted Monday. The numbers in Bollinger and Perry counties drop to 39 in Perry County and 43 in Bollinger County.

"Everybody I talk to says they are not having their doors knocked down with people wanting permits," said Stone County Sheriff Richard Hill, president of the state Sheriffs' Association

In the Kansas City area, Clay County Sheriff Paul Vescovo said applications have dropped every month since peaking at 160 in August, the second month they were available there. The November total was just 27, with the total through November is 511.

"Maybe the novelty has worn off," said Vescovo. "I don't know."

Neighboring Platte County has had 267 applications, 70 percent of them in the first two months, Sheriff's Capt. Frank Hunter said.

Available in 46 states

Forty-six states now allow concealed weapons, and traditionally the most permits are issued in the first year of availability.

A possible factor in the lower-than-expected number of permit applications is that people don't need a permit to have a concealed weapon in their motor vehicle in Missouri, as long as they don't take it out of the vehicle.

"For most people, that's where they wanted to carry it -- not on their body but in their vehicle," said Capt. Chris Ricks of the highway patrol.

Ricks also noted that Jackson County, St. Louis County and the city of St. Louis, which make up about 35 percent of Missouri's population, aren't issuing the gun permits because of a flaw in the law's wording. If they were, and applications were made at the same rate as the rest of the state, the total would still be less than 19,000.

The law passed last year but was delayed after it was challenged in court. It was upheld in February by the Missouri Supreme Court.

However, the court also found that the law was an unfunded mandate in that the $100 fee did not cover the cost of issuing the permits in some counties.

Another issue is that some Missourians, especially from Jackson County or the St. Louis area, have applied to other states for permits, which are honored in Missouri. While the state does not compile figures on the number of Missourians with permits from other states, through August 1,300 state residents sought permits from Florida and 2,500 from Pennsylvania.

Staff writer Linda Redeffer contributed to this report.