Albany

As the presidential election heats up and violent crime rises nationally, pistol permit applications are at an all-time high in the Capital Region.

"I think there's a great fear that the country is leaning towards some sort of ban," said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple. "People want to beat the government to the punch."

The numbers of permits processed in Columbia County rose 186 percent in just six months this year, Sheriff David Bartlett said.

The number in the county has been climbing for years, added spokesman Lt. Wayne Lopez. "But we notice we do get a spike before elections," he said.

Applications have doubled year-to-year in Albany and Rensselaer counties. And in Schenectady County, Sheriff Dominic Dagostino reported similar "drastic" increases.

"We're getting rocked with applications," Apple said. "You wouldn't believe the amount of people who want their pistol permits."

One-hundred and thirty Albany County residents applied for a pistol permit in the first nine months of 2016, which is the same number for the entire year 2014.

Rensselaer County Sheriff Patrick Russo said his office processed about 300 pistol permit applications in 2014, about 600 in 2015, and is on track to handle more than 1,000 applications this year.

"It's unbelievable," Russo said. "We have a two-month backlog on fingerprinting." The waiting list prompted him to assign an officer full-time to tackle pistol permits.

Columbia County processed 290 permits in 2014 and 413 in 2015. In just the first half of this year, 515 permits have been processed.

The sheriffs reported that women were the fastest-growing demographic in permit holders.

"I hate to stereotype like that, but we would (previously) get mostly just younger-than-middle-aged men," Apple said. "Now, because of so many concerns, I'm getting more younger people, especially younger females."

So far, though, that increase is slight. The number of women applying for pistol permits in Albany County has only jumped 2 percent since 2014.

Other counties don't collect data on the gender breakdown of applicants, but Bartlett said he recently attended a women's concealed-carry fashion show in Columbia County where a trend was evident.

Thomas King, president of the state Rifle and Pistol Association, said there has been an ongoing sales increase for firearms in the Capital Region since Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act or SAFE Act in 2013, a month after the mass killings in Newtown, Conn.

"Sales numbers are through the roof," said Craig Serafini, the owner of Upstate Guns and Ammo in Schenectady. And it's not just first-time buyers with a new permit coming into the store, he said: "Even current permit holders are buying at an increased rate."

Serafini said consumers are "fear-buying," driven either by political uncertainty or personal safety concerns.

"In this industry, politics is a very big driving force. And this is going to be a big, big election for Second Amendment rights," Serafini said.

He fears Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, will ban guns if elected.

Clinton's stated gun control plan calls for expanding background checks, outlawing military-style weapons, closing gun show and internet sales loopholes, revoking the licenses of dealers who break the law, and prohibiting gun sales to domestic abusers, other violent criminals and the severely mentally ill.

Republican nominee Donald Trump — who insists that Clinton secretly wants to do away with the Second Amendment entirely — has said he will appoint Supreme Court Justices who will broadly support the Second Amendment, pass a national right-to-carry law, overturn bans on certain guns and magazines, encourage citizens to defend themselves using firearms and expand mental health treatment.

"People are afraid if they don't get a pistol permit now, they won't be able to get it later," Russo said. He said many residents have cited the election as their motivation for applying.

"Recent trends in violent crime across the country also have people afraid that police departments cannot be everywhere at once," Serafini said.

Violent crime has increased by almost 4 percent in the last year, according to estimates in the FBI's most recent national crime statistics report, released Sept. 26. Over the past decade, though, crime rates dropped about 18 percent in New York, which mirrors national trends.

"For new permit applicants, they want to be able to protect themselves and their families," Serafini said.

In 1999, about a quarter of gun owners in the United States cited self-protection as their main reason to own a gun; almost 50 percent of gun owners say that now, the Pew Research Center found in a recent study.

The spike in gun ownership had area sheriffs considering expanding safety courses. All permit applicants must attend such a program before being processed, but Apple said the county could do more.

"At that Saturday class, you're going to sit in a classroom and hear about gun safety — but you're not going to shoot a gun, you're not going to hold a gun," he said. "My fear is that people will get their permit and not know how to shoot their gun or handle it properly."

The Albany County Sheriff's Office is planning to build an outdoor shooting range for deputies' firearm qualifications and practice. Apple said the new facility in Coeymans could be used be for additional public safety training courses.

Bartlett said he's working with county judges to change safety course requirements in Columbia County. Soon pistol permit applicants won't just sit in a classroom, he said. They will learn how to properly handle, load, charge, fire, unload and clean a firearm.

"You know how your computer works, you know how your cellphone works. You should know how a gun works before you buy one," Bartlett said. "It's so easy to take a novice out and teach them how to be safe with a gun."

Russo said first-time gun owners should learn when and how they can use of guns in self-defense and join a shooting range to hone their skills and safety knowledge. "Buy something you're comfortable with and become proficient with it," he said.

emasters@timesunion.com • 518-454-5467 • @emilysmasters