Packing Heat: Meet a Concealed Carrier

http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/4616/packing-heat-meet-a-concealed-carrier

Shawn Dodson carries a gun in part because he doesn't ever again want to have to defend himself with soup, as he did several years ago. He was at a grocery store with his family when he saw a fight break out. He intervened, angering one of the participants, who left the store and returned with a group of friends. "Next thing I know I have half a dozen guys in my face. The police were so slow to respond. I was about to get my ass kicked," Dodson recalled. "I actually armed myself with a couple cans of soup."

Nowadays Dodson, a Florida resident who used to hunt with his father and worked in military law enforcement during his time in the Navy, packs something more powerful than Progresso or Chunky. Like hundreds of thousands of Americans, he carries a concealed handgun. "I carry as often as I can," Dodson says, "I don't like to leave it in my car because I think that makes it vulnerable. To me it's like a seatbelt. It's like if you're going to carry, you carry all the time."

It’s hard to say whether Dodson is representative of the typical concealed carrier. It is, however, very easy to conclude that the ranks of people who pack heat are growing.
....
A City Limits survey of the 45 states that permit concealed carry (Illinois does not) and require a permit to do so (Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming do not) finds the number of concealed carriers swelling—although differences in the manner and timing of reporting among states make it difficult to generate national statistics. Florida boats 956,000 permit holders, Utah some 380,000 and Washington 233,000. Other states report smaller totals but significant growth in their concealed carry population. New applications in Arkansas tripled from 2005 (4,800) to 2011 (16,000). Iowa saw the number of permits leap from 40,000 to 95,000 from 2010 to 2011. Ohio had 22,000 new issuances in 2007 and 50,000 last year.

In other word gun sales are bonkers right now and concealed carry has been steadily gaining steam. I personally didn't like the tone of this article over all, but it contains some good info regardless.

There are only 2 mainland U.S. places without CCW now: Illinois and Washington D.C. The momentum of the concealed carry movement shows no signs of waning any time soon. Please remind your local congress critter that gun control is a hot stove.