Number of Carry Permits in the
US Tops 15 Million in 2017
By Dean Weingarten. May 21st, 2017
Article Source
In July, 2016, the number of concealed carry permits in the United States was over 14.5 million and was growing rapidly during the election year. It's now over 15 million, and likely to go much higher. Starting with numbers from the Crime Prevention Research Center, there have been increases in all states where numbers were available. The dozen states listed below show actual figures and the increase from the numbers cited earlier in the CPRC study.
Arizona 272,622 to 315,107 as of May 18, 2017, an increase of 42,485.
Florida 1,581,742 to 1,755,580 as of April 30, 2017, an increase of 173,838.
Indiana 728,976, to 799,546 as of March 31, 2017, an increase of 70,570.
Michigan 556,136 to 613,387 as of May 1, 2017, an increase of 57,251.
Massachusetts 360,263 to 412,369 as of Dec, 2016, an increase of 52,106.
Ohio 549,730 to 574,000 as of September 30th an increase of 24,270. It was a record year for Ohio and many states.
Louisiana 154,707 to 173,881 as of 31 December, 2016, an increase of 19,174.
Minnesota 221,712 to 265,728 as of 1 March, 2017, an increase of 44,016.
South Carolina 276,084 to 308,406 as of December 31, 2016, an increase of 32,322.
Tennessee 560,933 to 592,517 as of 1 May, 2017, an increase of 31,584.
Texas 1,052,073 to 1,150,754 as of 31 December, 2016, an increase of 98,681.
Wisconsin 300,000 to 321,200 as of 7 January, 2017, an increase of 21,200.
That's an increase of 624,625 permits for only those dozen states. And that puts the number of carry permits over 15 million nationally.
The rate of increase in Americans with canceled carry permits continues to grow as reforms of the permitting process make acquisition easier. Texas is in the process of reducing its permit fees from $140, to $40, for example. A modest counter current to the trend exists in the increase in constitutional carry states (where citizens no longer need to go through the permitting process in order to carry legally) .
Still, the reduction in the pace of permits issued in constitutional carry states is usually temporary. In Arizona, there had been 156,000 permits issued by 2010 when Arizona joined the Constitutional Carry club. Today Arizona has over 315,00 permits, more than double what it had when constitutional carry was enacted.
With over 15 million carry permits nationwide, and 13 constitutional carry states, the movement to restore the unfettered exercise of Second Amendment rights continues on a fast track.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Link to Gun Watch.
There is little doubt that, encouragingly, the uptake of carry has been maintaining a gradual increase. Needless to say however there are still those states which stubbornly refuse to grant many of what should be every law abiding citizen's right to self defense - notably CA, HI, MD, DC, NJ etc. Further to that of course is that no one should be required to have an actual permit to to carry and exercize their rights.