Kansas has set a record, for the third straight month, for applications for concealed-carry permits, the Kansas Attorney General’s office reported Wednesday.

The state received 4,072 applications for concealed-carry handgun permits in March, the most in any one month since the state started issuing permits in 2006. That was more than the 3,573 counted in February and the 3,167 applications that set a record in January.

So far in 2013, 10,812 new concealed carry applications have been submitted to the office of the attorney general. There are 53,272 active concealed carry licensees in Kansas.

As of March 1, a total of 8,229 of the applications were still in process, which is more than the number of applications in January and February, combined. The state is on pace to process about 178 applications per day, several times the 2010 average of 28 per day. State law allows 90 days to issue the permit after a successful application has been received.

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office could not be reached Thursday to comment on how the increased volume of permits would be processed within the allotted time.