Like the state’s 2020 end-year total, Faribault County issued nearly twice as many handgun permits than the year before.
Sheriff Mike Gormley processes permit to carry applications that have been provided by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and tracks the numbers.
And, like other sheriffs across the state, Gormley saw more than an uptick in the number approved. In fact, it was almost a 53 percent increase.
“We saw more women getting permits,” he says. “As for reasons for the overall increase, I could only speculate. They don’t specify why they want a permit.”
According to Gormley’s figures, there were 258 new permits plus 86 renewals for a total of 344 last year and three applications denied.
That compares to 2019 when there were 142 new permits, 40 renewed and two denials.
Martin County saw 344 new permits issued, 79 renewals and one application denied last year. In 2019, it was 137 new permits, 79 renewals and two denials.
The state’s BCA yearly Permit to Carry Report shows 96,554 permits to carry were issued last year, while the number was 51,404 the year before.
The state currently has 358,897 valid firearms permits. In 2020, 103 were suspended, 36 revoked, 968 voided, 1,191 denied and nearly 102,000 applications were submitted.