25K Applicants In First Week After Indiana Offers Free Gun Carry Licenses

At the beginning of July, Indiana exempted all fees for a lifetime license to carry a handgun. The response was so overwhelming that in the first 24 hours, more than 7,000 people successfully applied for the free license. In the seven days following the new law taking effect on July 1, more than 25,000 people had signed up for the license, according to Bearing Arms. 

A lifetime permit originally cost $125, but now it’s free of charge and overwhelming the state as they struggle to process thousands of applications. 

“As expected, we’ve had an influx of applications on our website. We’re asking folks that want to apply for that to be patient,” said Indiana State Police (ISP) public information officer Sgt. John Perrine.

ISP warned due to the high volume of applications, there may be delays in accessing the firearms portal. 

 “We’re sorry, due to a high number of current applicants, we must limit the number of individuals applying at one time. Please try again later,” ISP said. 

Because of the expected demand for free licenses, state police say it could take months to process all the new license paperwork. 

However, there are some hidden fees – when Indiana legislators removed the state fees on the permit, they didn’t remove fees for background checks or fingerprinting.  

Whether or not lawmakers take the next step and abolish carry licenses is still an open question.

Readers may recall a massive surge in Second Amendment sanctuaries at the state, county, and local levels are sweeping across the country. Lamestream media fails to report that 61% of US counties now protect gun rights.