Pistol Permit Applications In Newtown Jump Following Sandy Hook Shooting

A semi-automatic handgun and a holster are displayed at a North Little Rock, Ark., gun shop on Aug. 22, 2013.
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Pistol permit applications in Newtown, Conn. jumped in the five months following last December’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Hartford Courant reported Tuesday.

Newtown residents applied for 183 permits from January through May of this year, according to the Courant. That number is a 110 percent increase over the first five months of 2012, when residents applied for 87 permits.

Residents of the town applied for a total of 253 permits through October of this year, according to the Courant, and applications returned to pre-shooting levels in the second half of the year.

As the newspaper points out, the town grants only temporary permits while the state of Connecticut awards the full permit. But the Newtown police department was so overwhelmed with applications that the town hired a part-time clerk that started this week to help process the paperwork.

Town officials told the Courant they believed the uptick in pistol permit applications came in reaction to the December shooting, in which 20 students and six adults were killed, as well as in anticipation of tougher gun laws. The state passed a package of gun control measures in April, including provisions expanding its assault weapons ban and banning the sale of high-capacity magazines.

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