FORT WAYNE – Carol and Mark Roemke readily acknowledge there’s little crime happening around their farm near Harlan.

Several times people have tried to break into their tank of anhydrous ammonia, which is used as fertilizer and in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine. And for that reason, the husband and wife as well as their sons have personal protection permits to carry handguns.

“I tell you what, we got it for protection,” Mark Roemke said. “We have our Second Amendment rights, and we take advantage of them.”

In Indiana, people such as the Roemkes who live in rural areas are more likely to have handgun permits than those in urban settings, despite the differences in crime rates between the two environments. In Indiana, a person can have a handgun at his home without a permit, but a permit is needed to carry the gun outside the home.

Nearly a third of handgun permits in the state were issued in rural counties, making them about 1 1/2 times more common than in urban settings, according to Indiana State Police figures. In rural counties, there are 64 handgun permits for every 1,000 people compared with 46 per 1,000 people in urban counties.

Before July 1, the identities and addresses of those who had handgun permits were a matter of public record. But the General Assembly voted to close the records this year. In a final look before they were swept from public view, The Journal Gazette analyzed the 323,950 permits valid as of June 23, 2010, and calculated the concentration in urban and rural counties.

Indiana is among the majority of states in which the state, not local law enforcement, has the authority to issue permits. Local law enforcers, however, do process permits, and county sheriff’s officials said the reasons for a higher density of handgun permits in rural areas are hard to pinpoint.

Of the 15 counties with the highest rates, all but one are rural. For example, rural Brown County in southern Indiana has 115 permits per 1,000 residents, the highest in the state. Urban Allen County, in comparison, has 39 per 1,000. The state rate is 50 per 1,000.

Brian Malte, of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said he knew of no reason for the rural-urban difference. But, he said, it reflects what is happening in states where local law enforcement has discretion to limit concealed-carry handgun permits, especially in densely populated cities.

“They don’t want more concealed guns in their city, and they don’t issue them,” he said.

Lifestyle

County sheriff’s officials, though, offer several reasons for the density of handgun permits in their areas such as lifestyle, culture, fear of government and distance from police stations.

“I think it has something to do with law enforcement being farther away,” DeKalb County Sheriff John Dennis said.

“And of course, they have the right to own and bear arms, and they exercise that right.”

Chief Deputy Doug Harp of the Noble County Sheriff’s Department said he believes the main reason for the number of firearms in his county is hunting. Hunting with a handgun, once outlawed in Indiana years ago, is popular because it presents hunters with more of a challenge, Harp said.

“The people who live in the counties I think are more apt to be outdoors people who like to hunt and like to fish,” Harp said. “We’ve routinely gotten calls about people shooting. We have a lot of people that target shoot in the country, and generally we find that they’re doing it safely.”

Whitley County Sheriff Mark Hodges said residents in his county might be concerned about what’s happening in Washington.

Since President Obama took office, applications for handgun permits in Whitley County have increased, Hodges said. That includes lifetime handgun permits, which became an option for Indiana residents in 2006.

Previously, those seeking a handgun permit had to renew one every four years. Some state legislators said they wanted law-abiding citizens to be able to forgo the hassles of registering and introduced the lifetime permit option.

Now, nearly three of four are lifetime permits.

Hodges said people are threatened, whether rightly or wrongly, about what’s going on in government at the federal level. He said rumors of ammunition being monitored by the government or whispers that laws might be changed have prompted people to seek lifetime handgun permits.

“I guess that would spill over into the fear that maybe handgun permits might be either eliminated or made much more difficult to get,” Hodges said.

“A lot of people that have come in, that’s why they say they’re getting one now.”

More meth abusers

Sgt. Chad Hill of the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department said officials with his agency have heard similar fears of the government as reasons for obtaining a handgun permit.

Still, he said one of the main reasons people in rural areas get a handgun permit, and thus a handgun, is for protection, especially with the rise of methamphetamines.

Rural residents will keep a handgun in the pickup truck just in case they stumble upon someone going through a strong reaction to meth or someone trying to rob them, Hill said.

“I think some people take on the aspect that they need to protect themselves until law enforcement gets here,” he said.

And that’s why the farmers, Carol and Mark Roemke have handgun permits. Although he wouldn’t carry a handgun into town, Mark Roemke said, “if someone shoots me, I’ll shoot back.”

Carol Roemke isn’t so sure. Although the handgun is for protection, “I don’t know if I’d have the guts to use it,” she said.

jeffwiehe@jg.net