According to the latest available records, the county's Pistol Licensing Unit received 415 more pistol permit applications in 2015 than in the previous year. That's more than a 31 percent increase year-to-year, according to figures provided by Capt. John A. Watterson, a spokesman for the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office.

Watterson said total pistol permit applications in 2014 were 1329. This year past, the number of applications rose to 1,744, Watterson said on Thursday.

The increase comes as President Obama on Tuesday took executive action to expand background checks, increase oversight and close loopholes in federal law.

"This is about enforcing existing laws,'' Obama said Thursday night during a televised "town hall" meeting on guns broadcast by CNN from Fairfax, Va.

Among the best known Putnam County residents with a pistol permit is Fox News Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Roger Ailes.

On Wednesday, Daily Voice reported here that pistol permit applications also are on the rise in Westchester County.

According to the latest available records, Westchester County's Pistol Licensing Unit received 758 new applications for a pistol permit through Nov. 30, 2015. That compares to 743 new applications during the same period in 2014 – or a 2% increase in the first 11 months of 2015 over the same period the previous year.

Return to Daily Voice for updates on other county permit statistics in the Hudson Valley.

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