How Many Marblehead Residents Have Gun Permits?

In the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, President Barack Obama has made several new proposals for increased gun control.

That got us thinking. How many Marblehead residents have a gun license?

The answer: 849, if you're talking about the most common type of gun license. In bureaucratic-speak, that's the "Resident Class A Large Capacity License to Carry Firearms." According to the Globe, it's the only Massachusetts license that lets individuals carry a concealed weapon and own any type of legal gun.

To put that 849 person figure in context, Marblehead's population is 19,808 according to the 2010 Census. That means about 4 percent of Headers have the most common type of gun license.

Since 2008, the number of people with a gun license in town has risen 29 percent. The single biggest jump came between 2008 and 2009 when there was a nationwide spike in gun permits sought. Some attributed that to fears Obama would restrict gun rights. But according to the Globe, the economic downtown may also have played a role in the increase, as people worried about their personal safety.

Here is a chart of active "Class A" gun license holders in Marblehead since 2008, according to the State Office of Public Safety.

Among other types of licenses, numbers held pretty steady across that span. Active "Class B" licenses, which are for small-capacity guns, actually fell 12 percent over the period.

And here's something you might not know: There are eight people in Marblehead licensed to own a machine gun. That number has also remained steady since 2008.

If you are interested in getting a gun permit, you must make an appointment with Marblehead Police.