From a Facebook post of a friend, I found out that the Division of Licensing is asking for an increase to take care of the influx of new people applying for a Concealed Weapon’s Permit.

TALLAHASSEE –  Lawmakers on Tuesday approved a $2.6 million request by the state Department of Agriculture to handle a continued historic spike in concealed carry permit applications.The agency, which oversees the state’s concealed weapons permit program, expects 316,738 concealed weapons permit applications during this fiscal year, which ends June 30. The agency had originally budgeted to handle last year’s record-breaking 244,726 applications. By Oct. 16, roughly three months into the new fiscal year, it already had collected 105,594 applications, said Derek Buchanan, the agency’s policy and budget director.

Source: Lawmakers give $2.6 million more for concealed weapon spike

Although initially very happy about the increase in permit solicitation, I was worried about the request for money. For those who do not know, Florida has a trust fund to be used only for CWP issues and it cannot be touched for anything else. Last I heard about that fund was that it had a healthy balance, so I was worried about that money.  The new applications alone brought close to 12 million dollars, so where is the money? The answer was to be found down in the same article.

State Department of Agriculture spokesman Aaron Keller said the money will come from a trust fund supported by fees paid with permit applications.

“We’re basically asking the commission to move money over that can only be used for concealed weapons permits,” Keller said.

That the CWP system is basically self-sufficient was a fantastic idea from whomever came up with it: You have funding available, not depending from the regular state budget that can be mired by politics, CWP cannot be painted as a burden on the taxpayer who can get stingy in times of economic woes and it is a beautiful slap in the face to the Gun Control groups just because.

Hat tip Dale G.