Permit To Carry Classes Full In The St. Cloud Area As State Sets New Record of Carriers

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(KNSI) – Permit to carry classes in the St. Cloud area have been filled for almost a year straight, and there’s no sign of slowing down.

Tactical Advantage in Waite Park co-owner Jason Falconer says they’ve seen a surge in intreats.

“Our permit to carry classes have been booked and filled since March 2020. It’s been a crazy year for training.”

Falconer believes two major events in 2020 led to the explosion in people taking permit to carry classes.

“Just from talking to customers, the two-week lockdown got people nervous. They started thinking about their own personal safety, wondering, you know how long this might take and home. You know what other restrictions there might be. So we had a lot of new shooters in March. And obviously then with the civil unrest this summer, just kind of kept things going.”

He says the biggest jump is in older people getting into shooting and guns.

“There’s a lot of people in their 50s and 60s who for the first time are getting into guns, and that’s probably the one number that’s higher. That stands out to us in the last year is the 50 to 60. And even some 70-year-olds who are from the older generation are looking at for the first time at getting into guns.”

He says about 35-percent of permit to carry classes participants are women.

He says classes have been filling up fast this year as well and he anticipates keeping busy through the year.

Earlier this week, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released its annual permit to carry report. It showed sheriffs issued more gun permits in 2020 than in any other year since the state’s Personal Protection Act was signed into law in 2003.

There were 101,897 permit applications turned in in 2020 and 96,554 permits issued. There were 51,404 permits issued in 2019.

All of the top five counties for five-year permits are in the twin cities, with Hennepin County – where Minneapolis is located – leading the pack with 11,346 permits issued. Dakota, Anoka, Ramsey – where St. Paul is located – and Washington County rounded out the top five.

There were also 103 permits suspended, 36 revoked, 968 voided, and 1,191 that were denied.

Locally:

Benton County – 955 permit applications were submitted, 877 permits were issued, five were denied, one was voided, and 72 are pending.
Morrison County – 734 permit applications were submitted, 707 were issued, one was suspended, and 26 are pending.
Sherburne County – 2,864 permit applications were submitted, 2,746 were issued, 15 were denied, one was voided, and 102 are pending.
Stearns County – 2,526 permit applications were submitted, 2,432 were issued, 28 were denied, one was suspended, one was canceled, five were voided, and 95 are pending.
Wright County – 3,560 permit applications were submitted, 3,450 were issued, 16 were denied, one was canceled, one was voided, and 92 are pending.
Another high watermark for statistics was for crimes committed by permit holders. The BCA says less than two percent were crimes where “firearms were used in furtherance of a crime.” More than half were DWI or other driving offenses. Almost a third were in the “other” category for less serious offenses such as city ordinance violations and hunting, fishing, and recreational vehicle violations.

The BCA says as of today; there are 358,897 valid permits to carry in Minnesota.

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