CCW applications surge in Missouri

And the beat goes on. From the Show Me State:

SIKESTON, Mo. — Local concealed-carry firearms safety courses are booming.

Missouri's concealed weapons law became effective Feb. 26, 2004. Among the requirements to apply for a concealed-carry endorsement is completion of an eight-hour firearms safety course.

Because of concerns President Obama may try to push for a federal ban on carrying concealed weapons, instructors are seeing a surge of people taking these firearm safety courses.

"All of your people who are real gun shooters, your diehards, came in the first year or two," said Marty Williams of Charleston, Mo., a reserve sheriff's deputy for Mississippi County who has been teaching firearms safety courses at Re-Armms in Sikeston and at a community center in Mississippi County since the law took effect.

"We're getting a different crowd now," Williams said. "Most of the people we are getting now are people who shoot very little or have never shot."

Article here. We can thank Gun Salesman of the Year Barack Obama for the influx of new gun owners and the rise in CCW applications.