We can thank former sheriff John Wesley Anderson of El Paso County for starting the “Shall Issue” CCW permit program in Colorado. Crime has dropped big time. When Police take 8 minutes to respond to trouble, they arrive 7 minutes and 55 seconds too late.
Let’s not forget whoever was the Sheriff of Elbert County that would go to various places and setup a table to issue permits as well. I often heard he was here or there and raking in the dough providing permits.
I lived in Douglas county at the time and they were issuing, too. The rumor was that they didn’t issue, but they did and did so according to what became our current law. My permit number is around 250, so they didn’t issue very many, but I suspect that was because they simply didn’t have many applicants due to that rumor.