Nevada's concealed handgun permits surge by 11.5% over the last year

Click on figure to enlarge

That is about an 11.5% increase in permits over the last year.

Iowa's concealed handgun permits soar 450 percent since 2010

From an article at Fox News:

In 2010, Iowa's numbers were just shy of 40,000, but according to data from the Iowa Department of Public Safety, last year the number crested 220,000. In 2011 alone, the number of permits issued in the state more than doubled. 

Nationally, a report by the Crime Prevention Research Center found that between 2007 and 2014 found there was a 127-percent increase in gun permit holders in America. However, in the same time period, Iowa saw over 400 percent growth in permit holders. Ross Loder, the bureau chief of the weapons permits division of the Iowa Department of Public Safety, says is likely due to a change in state gun permit laws. . . .

More concealed handgun permit data

Following the CPRC study showing that there were about 11.1 million concealed handgun permits by the beginning of the year, I then showed that the number of concealed handgun permits in just seven states had increased by over 400,000 from the end of 2013 to July 2014.  Since then Florida's permits have increased by another 50,000, Alabama's by almost 100,000, Utah's by 31,000, Minnesota's by about 2,800, and Illinois by about 50,000.  It is my understanding that California's permits have increased by about 20,000 to over 50,000.  That adds another over 250,000 permits from just four states.  Taken together all this adds up to to well over 11.8 million permits.  There is no doubt that other states have also seen a significant increase over the same period of time.  Again, these numbers do not include the six states where people can carry without a permit nor do they include the numbers for a couple of other states that don't report their information.

Percent of the adult population with concealed handgun permits by county in Alabama

Data on the number of permits currently issued in Alabama counties is shown below.  The state has a total of approximately 470,005 permits, about 12.6% of the population over 18 years of age.  A couple of the counties have more than 18 percent of their adult population with permits.

The article in al.com notes that Alabama is number 1 in terms of the number of concealed handgun permits, but it is very likely that the six states that allow carrying without a permit have higher rates that people are carrying (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Montana (99.4% of the state), Wyoming, and Vermont).  It would have been nice if the article had provided some balance and noted what most of the literature had found on crime rates.  Donohue's claims about my work hadn't accounted for the impact of crack cocaine is simply disingenuous (for discussions in the 3rd edition of More Guns, Less Crime see here and here, but it was dealt with in my original research with David Mustard and the first edition of More Guns, Less Crime).

Concealed handgun permits in Orange County, California "surge," but are still very low

This year there are about 2.4 million adults living in Orange County, California.  Despite the "surge," there are few permit holders, representing just 0.07 percent of the adult population.  Even if all those applying for permits had their requests granted, that would still mean just about one-tenth of one percent have a permit.  The LA Times notes:

According to the analysis, permits are spread throughout the county, but certain cities — including Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Yorba Linda — have a higher concentration of licensees. Others, including Santa Ana and Garden Grove, have had much fewer approved permits. . . .

Not to surprisingly, giving the training costs to get a permit, it is the well-to-do areas of the county that are getting the permits.

Tennessee up to 471,882 permits in July 2014, Michigan at 558,403, Utah at 550,663, and Florida at 1,290,362

Click on above screenshots to enlarge them.  It is pretty amazing that just seven states now have a total of just seven states account for over 5 million concealed handgun permits.  Indiana has had about a 13 percent increase in the number of permits in just 9 months.

	latest	After about 6mnths or noted otherwise
Florida	1,290,362	1,215,708	6%
Indiana	557,789	537,964	4%
Michigan	558,403	425,972	31%
Minnesota	175,026	159,968	9%
Pennsylvania	872,000
Tennessee	471,882	441,171	7%
Texas	708,048	584,850	21%	Change from 2012 to 2013
Utah	550,663	535,857	3%
	5,184,173

UPDATE: The number of permits in Lenoir County, NC has gone up 1,000% percent in 10 years.

The presence of crime is causing concealed weapons permits to rise. In the last 10 years permits have gone up 1000% in Lenoir County.
"They're applying for a concealed weapons permit because they want to be able to protect themselves and they want to be able to protect their families." Sheriff Chris Hill said.
In 2008, 210 people applied and in 2013 it jumped to more than 800 applicants. . . .

UPDATE: Illinois now has seen about 84,000 permit applicants.  Presumably almost all will have their permits approved.  Still many fewer than the unrealistic prediction of 300,000 by the state police.

UPDATE: From the West Virginia Associated Press: It looks as if West Virginia has about 126,514 permits that were issued over the last five years and that there were large changes in the number of permits issued in 2012 and 2013.  That would represent quite an increase from 92,000 active permit holders in 2011.

In 2009, county sheriffs’ departments issued 11,160 permits allowing residents to carry concealed handguns in most public places. In 2013, that number had jumped to 44,981.The largest increase was from 2012 to 2013, when the number of permits issued annually increased by more than 15,000, up from 29,712 in 2012.
Those numbers, compiled by the West Virginia State Police, are only the permits issued each year. A permit is valid for five years, so the total number of West Virginians licensed to carry concealed handguns is much higher.
While some may have been revoked or surrendered, a total of 126,514 permits were issued in the five years including 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. . . .

Minnesota permits by county

Latest concealed carry permit numbers for Arizona

The numbers are available here.

General data on concealed handgun permits for five states, with a total of 2,601,424 permits

Annual reports are available here for Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Utah.

Florida currently has 1,254,529 active permits (April 30, 2014), Michigan has 436,856 (May 1st, 2014), Minnesota 170,916 active permits in May 2014, Utah 535,857 permits.  Kentucky had 203,266 permits on December 31, 2012, though it has definitely increased since then.  These five states have more than 2,601,424 permits.

Orange County, California: More than 500 people have applied for a concealed carry permit, it is still tiny

From the LA Times:

More than 500 people have applied for concealed weapons permits in Orange County in the last 10 days, nearly as many as applied all of last year. . . .  

If all or most of the 500 are approved, it would mark more than a 50% increase in the number of people licensed to carry concealed weapons in Orange County. As of last week, Hallock said, there were 906 active permits in the county. . . .

There were about 2.355 million adults in Orange County in 2012.  Increasing the number of active permit holders from 906 to 1,400 would increase the percent of the population with permits  from 0.038 to 0.059 percent.  The fees run between $170 and $225 dollars.  The training is the most in the US at 16 hours.

So far 33,395 concealed handgun permits have been approved in Illinois, first permits provided in March

From the Peoria Star Journal:

CHICAGO — Police across Illinois have objected to just 236 applications from people seeking to carry concealed weapons out of 33,631 submitted to the state police.The Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday that a state licensing board will consider objections within 30 days of a police department filing one. The board has a former judge, two former prosecutors, three former FBI agents and a psychiatry professor.The first licenses to carry concealed weapons could be issued by spring, the (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reported Friday. . . .

There were about 9.5 million adults over 21 years of age in Illinois in 2012.  For 33,395 permit holders, that represents only 0.35 percent of the adult population.  This change is so far extremely small.  In addition, with it costing $650 to $700 to get the license and training, few of the people who would benefit the most from owning guns for protection, poor blacks who live in high crime urban areas, will go get a permit.  It isn't just that few people are getting permits, but also that it is the people who are most likely to use them aren't getting them.

Thanks to Tony Troglio for the link. 

In just 11 states over last year there was about a 600,000 increase in number of concealed handgun permits

My guess is that there was a big change in the number of permits in Texas this past year as there the number of hours required for training was cut in half.  I wouldn't be surprised if the final increase for the eleven states shown plus Texas will be over 650,000.  For the 11 states shown, it is 590,000.

Percent of Adult Population with concealed handgun permits in Florida, with one county having about 18% of population with permits

The number of permits issued for Florida is from November 30, 2013.  1,045,551 Floridians have concealed handgun permits, that is almost 7 percent of Florida's adult population.  Santa Rosa is the 30th largest of Florida's 67 counties.  It has 17.7% of adults with permits.  That makes committing a violent crime in Santa Rosa a lot more dangerous.  

While I don't put much weight on purely cross-sectional data, Santa Rosa may be somewhat more populous than the median country, but it has the third lowest violent crime rate (157.7 per 100,000).  That is much lower than the rate for the rest of the state.  The average rate across counties was 418.3 and the median was 363.8.  Indeed, its violent crime rate was very similar to the rates in the two less populous counties that that had lower violent crime rates.

WUFT has also done a study relating permit issuing rate and Stand Your Ground cases, but they can't find a correlation between the two.

A county-by-county analysis of concealed weapons permit ownership shows no correlation between the two. When the eligible population for permit ownership is compared to the county’s population, the counties with the most dominant permit ownership are clustered in the northern part of the state. 

Conversely, the counties with the most stand your ground cases are clustered in the southern part of the state. 

WUFT reached a close approximation of the eligible population by calculating the population over 20 in each county (you must be 21 to obtain a permit, but neither the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services nor the Census Bureau report the over 21 population) and by subtracting each county’s inmates. 

The result shows that Dixie County has the most permits with 15 percent of its eligible population owning a license, followed by Okaloosa County with 12.3 percent and Jackson County with 11.4 percent. . . .

Number of Concealed handgun permits in Florida reaches 1,177,051 in September 30, 2013

The data is available here and here.  The general links for statistical reports for Florida are available here.

With 2,541,460 permits issued and 168 revoked for revocations for firearm violations, the rate of Florida concealed handgun permits that have been revoked for firearm violations is only 0.0066 percent.  Since January 2008, there have only been 4 revocations for any type of firearms related violation -- an annual rate of about 0.696 revocations.  With an average of about 850,000 permit holders over that period, that is an annual revocation rate of 0.00008 percent, or less than one ten thousandth of one percent.

Most common age of people getting concealed handgun permits in Texas?

From Fox News:

People over the age of 50 are seeking concealed handgun licenses at a rate higher than any other age group in Texas. 

An analysis of state records by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram found that 57-year-olds last year sought the most concealed handgun licenses in Texas. In recent years, Texans aged 63, 52, 61 and 60 have also led the way in gun permits. 

Texas has more than 580,000 concealed-carry permit holders statewide. The Star-Telegram reported Monday that about 26 percent of those were issued last year. . . .

Race and concealed handgun permits

Here are a few states with high fees to get permits
Texas 2012 permit fee $140
Black share of population 12.2%
Black share of permits issued 7.2%

Louisiana 2009 permit fee $100
Black share of population 32.4%
Black share of permits issued 12%

Oklahoma 2011 permit fee $125
Black share of population 7.7%
Black share of permits issued 2.8%

Some other relevant information is available here.

Growth in concealed handgun permits: Florida has 1,019,866 permit holders, Utah has 411,604

Florida had 1,019,866 permit holders as of the end of January 31, 2013. That is quite an increase from the 887,000 permits in December 31, 2011 -- a 132,866 or 15% increase.

Arizona saw an increase from 163,000 to 182,813 going from December 31, 2011 to February 24, 2013.   That is  a 19,813 permit increase.

Arkansas saw an increase from 111,000 to 130,041 going from December 31, 2011 to January 28, 2013.   That is  a 19,041 permit increase.

Colorado saw an increase from 90,000 to 139,560 going from December 31, 2011 to December 31, 2012.   That is a 49,560 permit increase.


Indiana saw an increase from 406,000 to 449,025 (obtained from David R. Bursten, Captain Commander, Public Information Section, Indiana State Police) going from December 31, 2011 to January 11, 2013.   That is a 49,560 permit increase.


Kansas saw an increase from 39,000 to 62,557 going from December 31, 2011 to February 24, 2013.   That is  a 23,557 permit increase.

Kentucky saw an increase from 170,000 to 216,463 going from December 31, 2011 to December 31, 2012.   That is a 46,463 permit increase.

Michigan saw an increase from 296,000 to 455,663 going from December 31, 2011 to February 4, 2013.   That is a 159,663 permit increase.

Minnesota saw an increase from 91,000 to 119,574 going from December 31, 2011 to January 31, 2013.   That is a 28,574 permit increase.

Missouri saw an increase from 133,000 to 160,184 going from December 31, 2011 to January 31, 2013.   That is a 27,184 permit increase.

Ohio saw an increase from 270,000 to 313,718 going from December 31, 2011 to June 30, 2012.

Tennessee saw an increase from 341,000 to 390,343 going from December 31, 2011 to February 7, 2013.   That is a 27,184 permit increase.

Texas had 584,850 permits on December 31, 2012, up from 519,000 a year earlier.  That is 65,850 more permits or a 13 percent increase.

Utah had 411,604 on December 31, 2012, up from 347,000 a year earlier.  That is 64,604 more permits or a 19 percent increase.

Just these Fourteen states represent an increase of 773,261 permits.  When you consider that permit data isn't available for Alabama, New Hampshire, and New York and that permits aren't even required for Arizona, Alaska, virtually of Montana, Vermont and Wyoming it is clear that the total here is well above 9 million (8 million at the end of 2011).  Just Alabama by itself probably has well over 400,000 permit holders.  So say we are extremely conservatively saying 9.3 million.  I estimate that there were fewer than 1.3 million permits in 1997 and about 4.6 million permits in 2007.

Number of Concealed Handgun Permits in New Mexico Increases

With its very high fee for the permits and the 15-hour training requirement, New Mexico is one of the most difficult right-to-carry states to get a concealed handgun permit.  Still, while the total number of permits is low, there has been a substantial increase in the number of permits.  Just since 2009, there has been a 50 percent increase in permits statewide.  From the Las Cruces Sun-News:

New Mexico
2007: 7,000
2009: 16,708
2012: 25,109
— Source: New Mexico Department of Public Safety

Connecticut considering publicizing names of gun permit holders

Apparently, some haven't learned much from the problems created by the Journal News in New York (see also here).

The names and addresses of about 170,000 handgun permit holders in Connecticut, now kept confidential by law, could be made public under a proposed bill that pits gun owners against would-be reformers in the aftermath of the Dec. 14 Newtown school massacre. 

The bill, introduced by Rep. Stephen D. Dargan, D-West Haven, co-chairman of the legislature's public safety committee, would make public the names and addresses of permit holders under Connecticut's Freedom of Information Act — and would reverse lawmakers' decision to protect that personal information from disclosure nearly two decades ago. 

Dargan's bill already has stirred debate, well before next Wednesday's opening of a five-month General Assembly session that is expected to be dominated by gun-control issues after 20 first-graders and six adult staff members were killed Dec. 14 by gunman Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lanza, 20, shot himself as police arrived; he had killed his mother at their Newtown home earlier. . . .

How has the issuance of concealed handgun permits by sex and race changed in Texas since 2000?

 

In raw numbers the first figure means that the number of permits issued per year for women rose from 8,994 to 31,614 and for men rose from 44,113 to 112,111.  Meanwhile, the share of permits going to whites fell from 92% to 86% over this same period.  The information for various years is available from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

New GAO report: there are over 8 million concealed handgun permits in US

From the new report:

According to state reporting, there were approximately 8 million active concealed carry permits in the United States as of December 31, 2011. . . .
This number is an estimate based upon state reporting to GAO. Given that many states reported approximate numbers and some states that issue permits were unable to provide the number of permits, the number is likely understated. 

Earlier this year I had argued that there were about 8 million permits.