Five years after passage of Minnesota’s permit-to-carry handgun law, there’s some evidence to suggest that many permit owners are opting to unpack heat.

As five-year deadlines for permit renewals have come due this year, it appears renewal numbers aren’t keeping pace with the numbers of permits issued in 2003.

In the Twin Cities metro area, sheriffs departments are reporting that only about half of handgun owners are seeking renewals. Anecdotal observations in the Mankato area reflect likewise.

“Renewals are a lot less than I expected,” said Paul Behnke of Red Bear Hunting Emporium in Mankato.

Behnke bases his claim on the numbers of handgun owners signing up for the gun-safety classes he teaches.

Those wanting to renew permits must take a retraining course, and Behnke said those class numbers aren’t jibing with permits issued five years ago.

Behnke thinks the reason is simple dollars and cents in a tight economy. He said people just don’t want to pay the $75 renewal fee, plus refresher-class costs.

That’s not the only reason, said state Rep. Tony Cornish of Vernon Center and one of the chief proponents of permit-to-carry legislation.

Cornish said the heavy responsibilities that go with carrying a handgun may have proven too burdensome for many owners. Not to mention the nettlesome act of having to disarm oneself before entering one of the many buildings that ban guns on their premises.

Cornish said ideology prior to five years ago may also have played a role in cooling people’s ardor for carrying handguns.

“It was a principle thing. People didn’t like being told what they couldn’t do.”

But when the permit-to-carry law made it easier for citizens to carry concealed guns, many likely acted upon that freedom rather than any compelling need to carry a firearm.

“I think people said then that they didn’t plan on carrying; they just got permits because they could,” Nicollet County Sheriff Dave Lange said.

As for renewals in Nicollet County, Lange said his office has been processing some.

“Whether they’re consistent with (permits issued) five years ago, I don’t know. But we weren’t real overwhelmed with permits five years ago either.”