Chicago Sees Huge Spike in Gun Permit Requests

Chicago saw a dizzying 63 percent spike in demand for gun permits in 2016, according to new police statistics.

Illinois state police data show 38,712 Chicago residents got a state-issued Firearm Owners Identification card last year compared with 23,725 in 2015, DNAInfo.com reported.

In total, about 212,000 people are now licensed to own a gun in Chicago, state police say, according to the online news outlet – a number that has been on the rise since 2015, when that figure soared 21 percent from the previous year.

Illinois state police data also show a 50 percent spike in the number of permits to carry a concealed gun, from 13,948 in 2015 to 22,517 in 2016.

"People are worried about crime in Chicago," Joel Ostrander, the owner of SafeShot Ltd,, which provides training, told DNAInfo.

"These are well-educated, professional people looking for a way to protect their homes and families."

In Chicago last year, more than 730 people were killed, and 4,000 people shot in 2016 — the highest tally since some of the city's poorest communities were ravaged by crack cocaine and violence in the 1990s, DNAInfo reported.

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