Join a random group of 10 people — in line at the supermarket, say — and chances are one of them has a concealed-pistol license.
As of January, the state Department of Licensing reports, 10,940 people on the North Olympic Peninsula have gone to their local law enforcement agencies, met the application requirements, passed the background check and paid the $52.50 to carry a hidden handgun.
“There’s been a steady increase,” said Sheriff Bill Benedict, the top law enforcement official in Clallam County whose office issues the Peninsula’s largest number of pistol licenses.
“When gun control was being debated, people were eager to get their permits.”
He said he’s heard applicants say things like “I’m going to get one before the laws change.”
In 2012, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office along with police departments in Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks issued 7,298 concealed-pistol licenses.
By the beginning of this year, that number had grown to 8,197.
In less-populous Jefferson County, the Sheriff’s Office and Port Townsend Police Department issued a smaller number. But they saw a rise, too.
At the end of 2012, the total was 2,354 pistol licenses. Two years later, it’s 2,743.
Per capita, both counties’ rate of concealed pistol license issuance is significantly higher than that of the state.
As of this past January, there were 112.1 licenses per 1,000 Clallam residents.
In Jefferson County, there were 89.6 licenses per 1,000 residents.
The state’s rate is 67.8 licenses per thousand.
The women’s share of these permits has grown, too.
In 2012, pistol licenses were issued to 1,829 Clallam women, or 25.1 percent of all permits. By this January, that number had risen to 2,261 women, of 27.6 percent of all licenses in Clallam County.
In Jefferson County, 537 women held pistol licenses in 2012. That rose to 675 women, or 24.6 percent of total licenses, at the start of 2015.
Washington, which has had a concealed-pistol permit law since 1935, is a “shall issue” state, which means people who meet the application requirements will be given a license to carry a concealed handgun.
California, Delaware and Hawaii are “may issue” states, meaning they have the authority to take judgment on whether to give the license to a resident even after he or she has met the written requirements.
Washington differs, too, from some other states in how much training it mandates for licensees.
It requires none, Benedict said.
Tennessee, Texas, Idaho and California are among the states requiring concealed-handgun carriers to complete a training course of some kind.
Requirement or no, people on the Peninsula are taking classes with trainers such as John Ebner, a National Rifle Association instructor who teaches at the Jefferson County Sportsmen’s Association shooting range.
A 26-year resident of Port Townsend, Ebner has taught firearms safety for a decade and a half.
On the range and in the nearby classroom, he offers a different class every month, from basic shooting to personal protection inside the home to personal protection outside.
“People are concerned for their own safety. More and more women are taking these courses,” Ebner said after finishing the Saturday portion of his class last weekend.
“They have a gun and they want to know how to use it,” he said, adding that “probably 50 percent of my students are from the Port Angeles and Sequim areas. Some even come all the way from Forks.”
Last weekend, Molly Erickson proved that point. She traveled the 103 miles from her West End home to Ebner’s two-day “Basics of Pistol Shooting” class.
“I’ve been around guns all my life, but I never really handled them. I’ve been curious,” said Erickson.
“We live out in the woods. I’m alone sometimes. I want to know how to shoot.”
She’s had a concealed-pistol license for a few years and was looking for a safety course.
Sure, her husband could teach her how to shoot. But it’s easier, Erickson said with a smile, to learn from someone who’s not a family member.
On her first day of class, she learned to use a .38 special — not an easy thing to shoot with, Ebner said.
“She kept all of her shots on a paper plate at 21 feet,” he noted, showing a reporter the perforated target.
“I’m not learning how to shoot because I’m afraid,” Erickson said. “I just feel a lot more secure.”
Another reason for taking the course: Erickson’s 3-year-old granddaughter.
“I always want to know what the proper safety [procedure] is,” she said.
Ebner is well-versed in how women can store their handguns.
There are safes, of course, that can be bolted down to your night table. Gun stores have them — as well as special purses and fanny packs fitted for pistols.
Ebner touted Fred’s Hobbies & Guns in Sequim for its good selection of such things, including some that look like computer bags.
When a man or woman carries a firearm outside the home, he said, it must be kept very close to the body. It could be secured in a holster or, in the case of yet another accessory for women, a garter belt.
If a woman chooses to carry the gun in her purse, that purse must never be out of her hand, Ebner said.
He spoke of the December incident in which a 2-year-old boy found his mother’s pistol in her handbag.
Veronica Rutledge, 29, was shot and killed by her son while they were shopping at the Walmart store in Hayden, Idaho.
Carrying a gun in a purse and leaving it where a child can easily reach it is “an act of negligence,” Ebner said.
He does not, however, advocate greater restrictions on gun ownership for law-abiding people — though he would like to see Washington state look into training requirements.
“I’m passionate about it,” said the 66-year-old. His goal is to teach people how to carry a firearm “comfortably and confidently.”
Sheriff Benedict said he, too, urges those receiving concealed pistol licenses to seek training.
“We do fairly exhaustive background checks, locally and through the FBI database,” before issuing the permit, he said.
At the same time, Benedict’s sense is that people who use guns to commit crimes didn’t go through the legal channels to get them.
When asked whether he believes thousands of people carrying handguns is a good thing for public safety, Benedict didn’t want to opine.
“I try to get away from what my thoughts and feelings are,” he said.
“I do support the Second Amendment,” in which the U.S. Constitution states Americans have the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense.
Ebner, meanwhile, did not hold back on his opinion.
“An armed society is a polite society: That’s true,” he said.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
