Rush is on for Florida CCW permits

From the Sunshine State:

Jennifer Turkali, 37, likes the ease of shooting a 9mm handgun.

"It's not too heavy," said the mother of two and Kennedy Space Center worker.

With her sister and mother, Turkali recently completed a class on concealed weapons at the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum Shooting Range.

"It gives me peace of mind of knowing I could protect my family if I needed to," she said.

Turkali is one of many Florida residents lining up in record numbers to be able to carry a weapon.

While Turkali said she and her female family members wanted to familiarize themselves with the guns their husbands have at home, other people statewide have their own reasons.

It might be a concern over President Barack Obama's record on guns, or a fear that a bad economy will cause crime to rise, or a reaction to last year's guns-at-work law. Or maybe a combination of all three is behind the rapid rise in applications for permits, state officials said.

"We're still sitting on about 50,000 applications," Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson said. "We're getting in about 14,000 or 15,000 a month, and whenever they get a good slug out, they're getting another 15,000 in." [emphasis added]

Bronson asked the Legislature during the spring for the authorization to hire 61 temporary employees, bringing the total to 202. They have helped whittle down a backlog that then stood at 90,000 for all types of concealed-weapons permits. The backlog alone was roughly equal to all the applications received in 2008 -- 90,331 -- and the department received 75,520 applications in the first six months of this year. ...

Article here. All these law-abiding citizens and voters are a good thing for gun rights. These folks aren't getting concealed carry permits to go hunting; they are getting them to carry guns for self-protection. And that moves us closer to the spirit and purpose of the Second Amendment - a heavily armed populace capable of defending itself against thugs, and tyrants.