Last month, the Firearms Unit of the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Criminal Information Bureau issued its 300,000th concealed-carry permit since the state’s Right-to-Carry law was passed in 2011.
The department has reported record high levels of handgun hotline background check and concealed-carry applications in recent months, with no slowdown in sight. Since the first day of 2016, nearly 20,000 concealed-carry applications have been processed, while the handgun hotline completed more than 45,000 background checks. This is in contrast to the entire year of 2015, where 45,549 carry applications and 131,648 handgun hotline background checks were requested.
Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Scheme was quoted by local NBC 26 as saying, “The dedicated professionals at the Department of Justice have provided a safe, secure and efficient process for the issuance of concealed-carry permits since 2011 … Wisconsin has always had a rich tradition of firearms ownership, and I am proud to lead the agency that ensures law-abiding citizens can exercise their rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment.”
