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Amid rising violent crime rates and fears about the outcome of the upcoming elections, gun owners in New York are applying for pistol permits in record numbers.
By September of this year, 130 Albany County residents had applied for pistol permits. That’s as many applicants as in all of 2014, and double the number from 2015. “We’re getting rocked with applications,” Sheriff Craig Apple said.
While applications have been rising for years in Columbia County, Sheriff David Bartlett reported a 186-percent surge during six months of 2016. From January-June, 515 permits were processed, nearly double the 290 processed in all of 2014.
Rensselaer County also had about 300 applications in 2014. But this year, the county is on pace to process over 1,000, prompting Rensselaer County Sheriff Patrick Russo to hire a full-time officer to process permits. Russo said many applicants cite the fear of a Hillary Clinton presidency as their reason for applying: “People are afraid if they don’t get a pistol permit now, they won’t be able to get it later.”
