The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. in December 2012 has done wonders for the gun industry both locally and nationally.
Norb Franz of the Macomb Daily reports that requests for gun permits in Macomb County spiked after the tragic shooting, reflecting a national trend. While tapering off some in recent times, requests have still surpassed the pre-Sandy Hook days, he reports.
Franz writes:
In Macomb County, 814 applications for concealed pistol licenses were filed in December 2012 -- the same month as the Connecticut mass shootings. The following month, 1,438 applications were filed. In February 2013, 1,329 people requested such a license, followed by 1,525 in March, according to data obtained from the Macomb County Clerkâs Office. Most monthly figures generally trailed off after that but still exceeded numbers from the previous two years.
The Huffington Post reported last December:
American gun sales have been climbing for nearly a decade, but they have surged under President Barack Obama -- particularly after the Newtown, Conn., school shooting in December 2012. According to FBI data, the number of firearm background checks has risen dramatically during the Obama era.
In 2005, there were nearly 9 million background checks performed. In 2008, the year before Obama took office, there were 12.7 million background checks. Through the first 11 months of 2013, that figure totaled more than 19 million, only about 500,000 shy of the total for all of last year.
