A surge in residents applying for gun permits in Pottawattamie County is keeping sheriff’s officials busy. Sheriff Jeff Danker told the Daily NonPareil the lobby of his office has been filled with residents applying for gun permits, either the one-year purchase permit or the five-year right to carry permit. Danker said the numbers of people interested in legally owning a firearm has grown to the point where discussions have been held about how to handle the big lines in the small lobby.

He said on some days, there have been as many as 40 people applying for gun permits. So far in 2015, the sheriff’s office has handed out 970 permit applications, and Danker expects that number to rise significantly before the end of the year. In 2014, the sheriff’s office handed out 877 applications.

Danker said he heard from one applicant that recent shootings in Paris and San Bernardino, California led him to get a permit to carry a gun. That, and discussion by President Obama about stricter guns control had led to the surge in permit requests and gun sales. Along with dealing with new permits, in 2016, the Pott. County Sheriff’s Office will also have to deal with renewing permits to carry. Permits to carry last five years. In 2011, Iowa saw a record number of people apply for permits to carry concealed weapons.

Danker said he didn’t readily have 2011 permits numbers, but he did say it was a lot. Statewide, roughly 101,000 nonprofessional permits were issued in 2011, up from 39,000 in 2010. In 2011, the Iowa Legislature changed the state’s permitting law from “may issue” to “shall issue,” giving law enforcement less discretion over who can receive a permit.

Elsewhere in southwest Iowa, Harrison County Sheriff Patrick Sears said he’s issued 229 permits to carry a concealed weapon so far in 2015, compared to 178 in 2014. He said he’s seen a recent uptick in the last month or so, attributing it to a possibility of two factors – or a combination of the two. The county issued 836 permits to carry in 2011. Sears expects a busy 2016.