There have already been 23 pistol permit applications filed in Wilton this year, which is more than half of all those filed last year, according to Wilton police.
The increase in the pace over 2012, when 44 handgun applications were cumulatively filed, did not elicit much comment from Capt. John Lynch, who said the department did not have a definitive explanation.
Pistol permit applications have also shot up in Ridgefield this January, with 34 appearing in the January log.
For some perspective, a total of 91 pistol permits were issued in Ridgefield during the 2012 calendar year, but the police track the statistics annually in October. The highest October-to-October period, at least going back seven years, was 2011-12, with 88.
“It’s quite a few,” Ridgefield police Chief John Roche said.
Statewide and nationally, gun sales have boomed over the past decade.
Town-issued permits are temporary, 60-day permits. They give people permission to carry a concealed pistol only in town. The town then forwards the application to the state Department of Public Safety, which then issues a five-year permit.
To get a temporary permit a resident has to supply a completed notarized application, a birth certificate or passport, a letter or certificate from an authorized NRA instructor, and a bank check or money order for $16.50 and $50 made payable to the state treasurer. Additional fees are $70 to the town of Wilton and $70 to the Department of Public Safety.
The applicant has to be fingerprinted by a detective, and an eight-week processing period, including a background check, begins.
Jake Kara contributed to this article.
