More Americans have performed Google searches for concealed carry permits this month than at any other point in the past 11 years, according to data published on the company’s website.
The spike in concealed carry permit searches comes in the wake of the Dec. 2 mass shooting that left 14 people dead and 21 more injured in San Bernardino, California. The husband-and-wife team of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers in what President Barack Obama has declared an act of terrorism.
People who possess valid concealed carry permits can carry hidden handguns in public areas.
The previous all-time high for concealed carry searches came in December 2012, the month in which Adam Lanza killed 20 schoolchildren and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The total concealed carry searches in that month were about 60 percent of what they were in the first 11 days of this month, according to Google Trends data.
There’s also been a documented rise in the number of people who actually obtain the permits.
The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) says that about 12.8 million Americans held concealed carry permits in July, nearly tripling the 4.6 million million who held such permits in 2007. The CPRC says that 1.7 million new concealed carry permits were issued in the past year alone, and the 15.4 percent year-over-year increase was the largest ever recorded in history.
Near the site of the shooting, some people wasted little time to get new concealed carry permits.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department received 75 applications for concealed carry permits the weekend following the shooting, which was seven times higher than usual. In neighboring Orange County, sheriff’s deputies told the newspaper that they received about 100 additional applications the weekend after the attack.
The news comes amid a new survey released Thursday by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) that found that 47 percent of Americans fear they or someone in their family will be the victim of a terrorist attack. That’s a 14 percent increase from one year ago. The PRRI survey also indicated 3 in 4 Americans said terrorism was a “critical issue” in the nation.
As permit interest surged, some were trying to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands.
Connecticut’s governor, Dannel P. Malloy, said Thursday he would sign an executive order that prohibits selling firearms to anyone on a government watchlist. It still needs federal approval.