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Madison - The state has fallen at least four days behind its legal timelines for handling background checks for Wisconsin's new concealed carry law but could be caught up as soon as this week, a state official said.

The state fell behind Dec. 30 on its obligations under the new law, which requires new applications to be handled within 21 days.

So far, nearly 71,000 people have applied for permits and swamped state officials at the Department of Justice, who have printed more than 51,000 so far. That comes as handgun sales and the state background checks for those sales reached record highs last year.

"It's just the volume (of applications), and everyone's been working as hard as they can to get these out," DOJ spokeswoman Dana Brueck said.

The state had 10 new workers start training to help handle the work on Jan. 3, and they are already processing some applications. But the state is not offering any financial compensation for those who paid the $50 fee for a license but who have to wait beyond the legal deadline.

On Nov. 1, Wisconsin became the 49th state in the country to allow the concealed carry of weapons, prompting a rush from people who have long wanted a permit. The law allows people 21 and older to qualify for weapons permits if they are trained and can pass a background check that shows they're not felons or otherwise barred from carrying guns.

So far, about 1,100 applicants have been denied, Brueck said. Most of the denials are for reasons such as the applicant's address didn't match other state records, leaving open the possibility the person could correct that information, reapply and receive a permit.

For applications filed before Dec. 1, the state had 45 days under the law to process the paperwork and manage the initial surge of people seeking a permit. But it has only 21 days to process the received applications filed since December.

Brueck has said DOJ officials had expected 100,000 concealed-carry applications to be filed in Wisconsin in the first year - the state has already reached most of that in just the first 2½ months.

Nik Clark, president of Wisconsin Carry Inc., said some members of his gun rights group had been waiting about 50 days from the time they had mailed in their applications. Clark said he was pleased about the large number of applicants in the state and had reluctantly accepted the long waits that for now have come with them.

"We've gone 130 years without the right to carry. I've told our members they can wait another week or two," Clark said.

Clark said his group wanted timely results but also didn't want the state to go overboard on hiring new employees to deal with the short-term rush of applications.

"We want smaller government and lower costs," he said.

Calls to Wisconsin's Handgun Hotline also have risen. The hotline does criminal background checks on buyers before gun dealers sell them a handgun. December was the busiest month on record for the hotline, with 13,023 calls, up from the previous record of 10,656 calls set in November, Brueck said.

Calls to the hotline in 2011 also easily set a record, with 88,895 calls, up 60% from the 55,655 calls in 2010.

The Handgun Hotline background checks have to be handled by DOJ within 48 hours, and so far the agency is keeping up with that deadline, she said.