There’s a big back log of applications for handgun licenses in Texas right now:

AUSTIN — More than 52,000 people in Texas have submitted an application for a first-time concealed handgun license or renewal since the beginning of the year, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

That is an almost 5 percent increase over the first six months of 2007, but there’s a good chance they’ll have a bit of a wait.

The crunch which some say is spurred by concerns about rising crime, the state’s new “castle law” and uncertainty about future gun laws has created a ballooning backlog of applications for the department.

The “uncertainty about future gun laws” stems almost entirely from the possibility of an Obama presidency. I’ve talked to a lot of gun owners and to a lot of new gun owners at the firing range — and an overwhelming number of people are buying guns now because they fear that a President Obama will try to make it harder to legally own handguns in this nation.

Like he’s done in Chicago.

The 5-4 Heller decision makes a lot of concerned citizens realize that two new Obama appointees could reverse the court’s current ruling on the second amendment.