New Study: Over 12.8 million concealed handgun permits, last year saw by far the largest increase ever in the number of permits

Jul 16, 2015 | Featured

The new report is available here.  Reports for other years including 2016 can be viewed here.  Part of the executive summary is shown here:

Since President Obama’s election the number of concealed handgun permits has soared, growing from 4.6 million in 2007 to over 12.8 million this year. Among the findings in our report:

  • The number of concealed handgun permits is increasing at an ever- increasing rate. Over the past year, 1.7 million additional new permits have been issued – a 15.4% increase in just one single year. This is the largest ever single-year increase in the number of concealed handgun permits.
  • 5.2% of the total adult population has a permit.
  • Five states now have more than 10% of their adult population withconcealed handgun permits.
  • In ten states, a permit is no longer required to carry in all or virtually all ofthe state. This is a major reason why legal carrying handguns is growing somuch faster than the number of permits.
  • Since 2007, permits for women has increased by 270% and for men by 156%.  Over that period, there was a 178% increase in total permits.
  • Some evidence suggests that permit holding by minorities is increasing more than twice as fast as for whites.

Map for 2015 Report

Murder rate and permits graph

Graphing Permits and murder changes

UPDATE:

Arizona — 239,259 July 5, 2015 to 251,333 January 17, 2016 (gender, race and county breakdown)

California — the state had 59,808 permits on December 31, 2015, about 0.2% of the adult population.  While nine smaller counties have between 2.5 and 4.5 permits per 100 people, the large counties have thousandths of one percent.  More data on permits is available here.

Colorado — 165,528 December 31, 2014 to 196,329 December 31, 2015.  During 2016 there has been an increase in permits issued.  January through May 2016 saw 31,901 permits issued compared to the same period the previous year.

Delaware — “surge” in concealed handgun permits in Delaware

District of Columbia — there were 44 approved permits out of 206 applicants as of September 8, 2015.

Florida — 1.415 million June 30, 2015  to 1.465 million Octobern 2015 to 1.474 million November 2015 to 1,488,028 December 2015 (Florida by county on December 31, 2015, Florida by genderMay 31, 2016 gender/age

Illinois — 103,000 March 2015 to 119,337 June 6, 2015 to 143,386 December 31, 2015 (Richard Pearson, ISRA)

Indiana — 595,361 June 30, 2015 to 630,000 in January 2016 (other data here)

Iowa — 220,000 December 2014 to 250,000 December 2015, to  254,000 in January 2016.

Kansas — 94,093 March 2015 to 100,000 in May 2015

Kentucky — given five year permits it appears as if  going from December 31, 2013 to December 31, 2014 increased the number of permits by about 23,000

Louisiana — End of 2015 report Gender, race

Michigan — 500,943 June 30, 2015 to 516,612 February 1, 2016, 539,036 March 24, 2016 (7.35% of adult population with guns) (The three most populous counties in order 96,101 permits in Wayne County (population 1.79m); 67,241 in Oakland County (1.22m), and 48,795 in Macomb County(0.847m)) June 1, 2016

Minnesota — 194,905 April 30, 2015 to 200,000 August 22, 2015, 19 percent of permit holders are women) to 210,647 November 30, 2015
West Virginia — 126,514 December 2013 to 147,801 Dec. 31, 2014

Montana — some new county numbers are available here.

Nebraska — 37,045 March 8, 2015 to 42,000 December 2015

New Mexico — 40,794 December 31, 2014 to 61,000 December 31, 2015

North Carolina — 484,630 June 10, 2015 to 478,334 in December 2015 (36,667 were for women)

North Dakota — 40,888 in December 31, 2013 to 40,872 December 31, 2015

Oklahoma — 217,724 March 2, 2015 to 238,300 January 23, 2016

South Carolina — 253,339 February 10, 2015 to 276,084 December 31, 2015

South Dakota — 81,222 in March 19, 2015 to 85,273 on December 31, 2015

Tennessee — 504,384 June 10, 2015 to 529,661 in January 4, 2016 (data over time for Tennessee is available here)  543,851 on March 2, 2016. 560,933 on June 1, 2016. More info here.

Texas — as of October, 2015, Texas had 922,197 active permits (see also WSJ), up from 841,500 in the spring. As of December 31, 2015 there were 937,419 active permits.  As of April 30th they had 1,017,618 permit holders, about 5.3% of the adult population.

Utah — 603,144 Total Valid Permits as of March 31, 2015, 202,637 Permit Holders are Utah residents to 623,969 Total Valid Permits as of September 30, 2015, 208,640 Permit Holders are Utah residents. 632,276 total valid permits and 212,349 Utah residents on December 31, 2015

Virginia — 387,054 on March 16, 2015, 420,000 December 2015

Wisconsin — 253,116 May 2015 to just under 285,000 in January 2016, 300,000 on March 24, 2016.

Total in report 12,802,740, updated with just these 15 states the total is now 13,328,665.  For many of these states this is just the change over 6 months.

Concealed handgun permits also affect the numbers that we have seen on NICS background checks in three ways: 1) the increasing number of permits being issued, 2) some states regularly recheck the concealed handgun permits using background checks (e.g., Kentucky does a background check on all permit holders every month to check to see if they have gotten into any problems), and 3) in some states you can sell a gun to someone with a concealed carry permit without doing a background check.

johnrlott

8 Comments

  1. Bartosh Rudnicki

    This site is amazing. You people do a tremendous job. I wish I had Bloomberg’s 50 milion dollars to back you up.

  2. Damocles

    No permit is required in Wyoming to carry (state residents only though). Despite our low population, we have a real high number of FFLs. 😉

  3. Paul Mays

    You need to Update… Kentucky ..You do not need a permit to open carry… Only if you Conceal Carry are your required to have a permit…

    • johnrlott

      Thanks, Paul, but if you read the title of this post or the title of the report, we are dealing with concealed handgun permits. For the reason that you point out, in the vast majority of states it is impossible to know how many people carry openly, but I suspect that it is very small, particularly in urban areas.

  4. Charles

    What part of “CWP’s ARE gun REGISTRATION” do you people NOT get?!

    Permit schemes are a BLATANT violation of our 2nd Amendment Rights.

    And…as history has repeatedly taught us…registration is always followed by CONFISCATION and TYRANNY. So you sheeple play this little Nazi game at your own peril. Count me out.

    • Deenohh

      You’re not really thinking this through. It would be wonderful if there was a genuine way to keep the government from knowing if you own firearms. In the difital age the chances are very slim.
      (1) While most (though not all) CCW’s are issued with no registration of the firearms the permittee owns or intends to carry, unless you purchased all of your firearms privately without any paperwork at all, the government will have a record of a firearms purchase through the NICS system. While this will not provide nomenclature the government will know that there was a purchase and by who.
      (2) The ATF has for many years (in a blatant violation of the Firearms Owners Protection Act) been digitally scanning the Form 4473’s FFL holders are required to retain, during the annual or biannual inspection of FFL holders engaged in sales.
      The point is if you have ever purchased a firearm through an FFL licensee , the government already knows you own firearms

  5. Jason

    I am a former LEO currently working in security foor the US Government in Washington, DC. I support CCW 100%! I also have permits in FL, VA, and PA.

    Food for thought. Every major modern war has been started by government employees following leaders who practiced either national socialism or communism. None of these wars were started by rednecks with pick-up trucks and concealed weapons permits. Just saying. 🙂

    • Charles

      “I am a former LEO…”

      Yeah. That says it all. You’re one of the foxes “guarding” the hen house, and you “support it 100%”. I rest my case.

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