Apparently gun permit requests in Austria SKYROCKETED in 2015. Though, I can't imagine why. It's almost as if something has changed recently in Europe. Is there some kind of weird fashion trend going on? No... Hmmm... Lemme put on my thinking cap, see if I can solve this little riddle.

Oh! By jove, I think I've got it! Yes I can imagine why.

Austrian police records in Vienna and the Styria district bordering Slovenia show the number of applications for handgun permits has risen fourfold in the past months, while firearms dealers say the number of weapons sales has skyrocketed. An average of 100 permits were issued in Vienna up until September 2015, according to police. The number doubled in October and reached 457 permits in November, according to police records.

“Especially in the last four months of 2015, we saw a massive increase in demand for weapons. Most people said they wanted a weapon because they didn’t feel safe,” a local police representative told the media.

"It’s clear that people’s general sense of unease has increased," Robert Siegert, industry spokesman for the arms trade in the Chamber of Commerce told broadcaster ORF, apparently referring to the atmosphere of insecurity following the Paris terror attacks in November as well as recent assaults on women on NYE in Cologne and other EU cities including Salzburg.

I bolded that for scan-ability. That's how much I care about you. Give me an award. Do it now.

I'm sure there's a leftist somewhere who is trying to find a word they can phobia-hyphen to make excuses for all this in Austria. Or not. They do already have the corner market on "Islamophobia" as well as "racism." Since all of this gun buying is happening in Austria, they might also throw in white privilege, or a throwback reference to Nazism. Either way, it's their fault

Here's the macro issue you need to be aware of. Notice what the people of Austria are doing in order to feel safe? Well they're not erecting Gun Free Zone signs, or whatever the Austrian translation of that is. They're getting their guns on. They're arming up. It's Hasta La Vista time, baby.

They're not wrong to do so, either. Every day we're getting more stories of Syrian refugees assaulting girls or blowing stuff up. Yeah, that Istanbul suicide bomber? He was a refugee. Those mobs who attacked women in Cologne, Germany? Refugees, lots of them. Media is trying to say "No way Jose," but most people are choosing to believe their lying eyes and ears. There's a theme to the recent uptick of rapes and violence in Europe. It's the refugees. The media might try to sweep them under the handwoven Turkish rugs, but the people of Germany, Austria, France and the like all know what to do about the issue, since their governments are screwing them. Wait, did I say screwing? I meant very nicely introducing them to a new wave of peaceful, progressive immigration.

Okay, okay fair ball. Mostly, the people of Austria are just getting screwed with a raw deal and are finally taking matters into their own hands. Racist, I know.

What do you think? Should Austria erect more gun free zone signs? Tweet @scrowder about it.