Allen Co. Sheriff predicts CHL spike; Montgomery Co. Sheriff improves customer service

According to the Lima News, Allen County Sheriff Sam Crish is predicting a spike this year in people obtaining their concealed handgun license (CHL) thanks to a reduction in the mandatory length of the class to eight hours.

From the article:

“I think people will see that and say I will go do the eight,” Crish said.

The sheriff said it usually takes an event or a presidential election to spike the numbers.

Twice in the past since Ohio began issuing concealed carry licenses in 2004 has the state recorded spikes. The biggest year was 2013 after President Obama used a deadly shooting at a Connecticut to push for strict gun control measures. While targeting concealed carry was not one, the fear it could be sent people in record numbers in Ohio to obtain their concealed carry license, 843 in Allen County, about twice an average year.

...The numbers also spiked in 2009 following the election of Barack Obama as president, who many view as an opponent of the Second Amendment.

According to the article, Sheriff Crish believes there are a lot of people who are considering getting their concealed carry license who haven’t gotten around to it.

“I talk to people when I’m out and they tell me they have never gotten their CCW but want to. I think there is a large percentage of people who want to get their CCW,” he said.

The concealed carry program is popular, Crish said. In Allen County, since 2004 there have been 10,346 new licenses issued, according to records. In Ohio during that time frame, more than half a million people have obtained their CCW license.

A big reason, other than politics, is personal safety, Crish said.

Crish said he does not find it a coincidence that crime has fallen in the past decade across the country while states have implemented concealed carry licensing. While he said there are many factors that crime is on the decline, he said concealed carry is part of that puzzle.

Concealed carry programs make criminals think twice, he said.

“People just don’t know who is carrying and who is not,” Crish said.

After citing a recent incident in his county in which a jewelry store employee was able to defend themselves during an attempted armed robbery, Sheriff Crish noted to the Lima News that there has not been one incident locally of a concealed carrier recklessly shooting a person, and added that those getting their licenses are among the most law abiding citizens around. According to the article, the sheriff also said carrying a concealed weapon has become a lot more socially acceptable in the past 10 years. It’s no longer a surprise or a big deal.

Meanwhile, farther south on I-75 in Montgomery County, Sheriff Phil Plummer has announced that applications for CHLs are taking his office less time to process compared to surrounding counties, thanks to more staff and an emphasis on customer service.

From an article in the Dayton Daily News:

Sheriff Phil Plummer said he made it a priority to process conceal-carry (CCW) gun permits faster in the county during 2014, and hired an additional full-time staffer to make it happen. In 2014, the department processed nearly 3,000 new permits and renewed more than 2,000. Now with two employees handling paperwork and background checks, the sheriff’s office cut wait times from about two weeks to 48 hours. Montgomery County also accepts walk-ins and does not require an appointment to apply, Plummer said.

“It was a priority of mine that if somebody wants to go to training and follow the law and they want to be able to carry a weapon, that we make it a priority to get them their certificate or their permit back right away,” Plummer said.

The sheriff’s office pays for the additional employee using funds from the CCW program. In 2014, the sheriff’s office brought in roughly $300,000 from CCW permit processing fees. That does not include the additional cost to applicants for photos and additional background checks required by the state for those who have not lived in Ohio for five years. New CCW permit applicants pay $67 to apply, while renewals cost $50, according to the sheriff’s office.

Ohio law allows the sheriff’s office to take up to 45 days to complete CCW permit processing. In Greene County, the wait is about one-and-a-half weeks to receive a permit back, while in Clark County the average wait time is one week, those offices reported.

The Daily News interviewed one applicant who said the decreased wait time is an incentive to apply in that county.

“It’s definitely a plus because faster is better these days,” the applicant is quoted as saying. “Once you go through all that stuff and get to this point (of applying) it should be a quick process.”

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.