Since the terrorist attacks in Paris, such far-away places as Pennsylvania have experienced a surge in applications for concealed handgun permits. Permit requests have at least doubled in some large counties, including Allegheny. Pennsylvania has more than 1 million permit holders â 10.6 percent of the adult population â so the undoubtedly short-lived surge won't dramatically change the number of permit holders, but an increase still will make Pennsylvanians safer.