Des Moines Register: The Polk County Sheriff’s Office issued 9,145 concealed carry permits in 2020, an 80% increase over the prior year. Across the country, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the FBI conducted 21 million background checks for the sale of a firearm. That’s more in a single year than at any point on record going back to 1999. But retailers and gun safety instructors say the volume of sales wasn’t the only thing that set 2020 apart: The new gun owners were more diverse.