I have here, thanks to reader Alex, a copy of the county by county numbers for 2008 for the number of Licenses to Carry issued in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The numbers are only a good estimate, taken by adding up the number of applications approved for a five year period for each county sheriff. Â In total Pennsylvania issues 638,000 LTCs, or a total of 7% of the adult population. Â Highest issuing counties, on a per capita basis, are Armstrong (20%), Cameron (19%), Potter (18%), and Centre (18%) counties. All predominantly rural, though Centre county is home to Penn State. Lowest on a per-capita basis is Philadelphia (still at 2.7% of the adult population) followed by Delaware, Montgomery, Chester, Northampton and Bucks (at 5.2% of the adult population).
Given these numbers, it’s amazing Arlen Specter thought it was a good idea to vote with Mayors Against Illegal Guns and vote against the Thune Amendment. Keep in mind many people in Pennsylvania have LTCs, but do not carry regularly. A little known fact, but Pennsylvania’s laws for transporting handguns in a vehicle without an LTC are as strict as New Jersey’s, so there are folks who have them just for transporting handguns in their vehicles.
If you live in a town with a MAIG mayor, this might be a big wake-up call to see these kinds of numbers. I’ll bet a lot of Bloomberg mayors have no idea how many LTC carriers they have in their county. All of which, presumably, would like their LTCs to be valid in other states, even if they are just transporting a handgun to go shooting, rather than for personal protection.
Wow. That’s a lot of LTCs. Michigan only has ~212,000 with a similar sized population. Our requirements are a lot stricter though with the training requirment.
2.7% of Philly is a lot of people.
As a displaced New Yorker (city), I remain amazed that so many people actually own (legal) guns in the city despite the ridiculous requirements. But Phill, NYC, etc. are big, big cities, so just because gun owners and carry permit holders get lost in the mass of population doesn’t mean there aren’t a ton of gun owners in these places. They get drowned out by the sea of antis, but I’ll bet there are more of them than in many gun friendly locales simply because there are so damn many people in these places.
Did you take into account that Center Co. is the one where non-resident permits go through?
These don’t take into account on resident permits, but that might be overstating Centre county’s numbers.
Carrying in cars is a gateway issue: when I am encouraging people to get CHL, I inform them that hey need it to carry a loaded handgun in a car, open or concealed, and make the point to them that they could be very innocently going about their business and inadvertently commit a crime.
That’s a launching point into a whole dicussion about why they should carry all the time, exercise their rights, and vote to support their rights.
It’s not just a loaded gun. Technically speaking to have any pistol in the car, loaded or unloaded, locked in the trunk or in the glove box, you need an LTC from any state in order to be legal, unless you fall under one of the exception, such as going back and forth to a place of business, or going to the range, or to get it repaired. If you want to stop through a drive through, you need an LTC, though over here you probably have a much better chance of getting off than you do in NJ. But if you had an unloaded pistol in the trunk in Philly, you might get busted.
Michigan has that same direct to or from law without a CPL.
Its a 5 year felony to stop and get gas with a firearm locked in the trunk, and yes they do prosecute it if they catch you.