2aguy
Diamond Member
- Jul 19, 2014
- 111,970
- 52,237
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Sad news for anti-gun extremists.........though the number of permits to carry a gun for self defense are down in 2023.......they are only down because more states have gone to Constitutional Carry....which means if you are not a criminal, you can carry a gun without having to jump through hoops.....
Last year, the number of permit holders dropped for the first time since we started collecting this data in 2011, decreasing 0.5% from 2022 record high to 21.8 million. The main reason for the drop is that the number of permits declines gradually in the Constitutional Carry states even though it is clear that more people are legally carrying.
■ 8.4% of American adults have permits. Outside of the restrictive states of California and New York, about 10.1% of adults have a permit.
■ In seventeen states, more than 10% of adults have permits. Kentucky and Virginia have fallen slightly below 10% this year. Kentucky’s fell after passing a Constitutional Carry law in 2019, meaning that people no longer need a permit to carry. The concealed carry rates for Michigan and Oregon have risen to above 10% in 2023.
■ Alabama has the highest concealed carry rate — 27.8%. Indiana is second with 23.0%, and Colorado is third with 16.5%.
■ Six states now have over 1 million permit holders: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Florida is the top states with 2.56 million permits.
■ Twenty-seven states have adopted Constitutional Carry for their entire state, meaning that a permit is no longer required. Because of these Constitutional Carry states, the concealed carry permits number does not paint a full picture of how many people are legally carrying across the nation. Many residents still choose to obtain permits so that they can carry in other states that have reciprocity agreements, but while permits are increasing in the non-Constitutional Carry states (317,185), permits fell even more in the Constitutional Carry ones even though more people are clearly carrying in those states (485,013).
Last year, the number of permit holders dropped for the first time since we started collecting this data in 2011, decreasing 0.5% from 2022 record high to 21.8 million. The main reason for the drop is that the number of permits declines gradually in the Constitutional Carry states even though it is clear that more people are legally carrying.
■ 8.4% of American adults have permits. Outside of the restrictive states of California and New York, about 10.1% of adults have a permit.
■ In seventeen states, more than 10% of adults have permits. Kentucky and Virginia have fallen slightly below 10% this year. Kentucky’s fell after passing a Constitutional Carry law in 2019, meaning that people no longer need a permit to carry. The concealed carry rates for Michigan and Oregon have risen to above 10% in 2023.
■ Alabama has the highest concealed carry rate — 27.8%. Indiana is second with 23.0%, and Colorado is third with 16.5%.
■ Six states now have over 1 million permit holders: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Florida is the top states with 2.56 million permits.
■ Twenty-seven states have adopted Constitutional Carry for their entire state, meaning that a permit is no longer required. Because of these Constitutional Carry states, the concealed carry permits number does not paint a full picture of how many people are legally carrying across the nation. Many residents still choose to obtain permits so that they can carry in other states that have reciprocity agreements, but while permits are increasing in the non-Constitutional Carry states (317,185), permits fell even more in the Constitutional Carry ones even though more people are clearly carrying in those states (485,013).
