For the second year in a row, the number of active concealed carry permits and licenses in the U.S. has declined slightly, but the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) suggests the drop reflects the impact of “Constitutional Carry” permitless states, so it’s not as though fewer people are packing heat.
“Last year,” CPRC reported, “the number of permit holders dropped by 0.38 million to 21.46 million – the second year in a row with a decline. It hit a high of 22.01 million in 2022. The main reason for the drop is that the number of permits declined gradually in the Constitutional Carry states even though it is clear that more people are legally carrying.”
CPRC, based in Missoula, Mont., has been tracking concealed carry patterns for several years. Its annual report is published in the fall, typically in late October or early November.
Among this year’s revelations:
- Twenty-nine states have now adopted “Constitutional (permitless) 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, they fell in the Constitutional Carry ones even though more people are clearly carrying in those states.
- In 2024, women made up 29.1% of permit holders in the 14 states that provide data by gender. Seven states had data from 2012 to 2023/2024, and permit numbers grew 111.9% faster for women than for men.
- Five states now have over 1 million permit holders: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Florida is the top states with 2.46 million permits. Alabama has fallen below 1 million permit holders this year, but it has become a Constitutional Carry state since January 1, 2023, meaning that people no longer need a permit to carry.
- Three states that have detailed race and gender data for at least a decade show remarkably larger increases in permits for minorities compared to whites. In Texas, black females saw an 8.4 times greater percentage increase in permits than white males from 2002 to 2023. Oklahoma data from 2002 to 2023 indicated that the increase of licenses approved for Asians was slightly over four times the rate for whites. North Carolina had black permits increase twice as fast as whites from 1996 till 2016.
- From 2015 to 2021/2023/2024, in the four states that provide data by race over that time period, the number of Asian people with permits increased 219.2% % faster than the number of whites with permits. Blacks appear to be the group that has experienced the largest increase in permitted concealed carry, growing 283.9% % faster than whites.
- At least 8.2% of American adults have permits. Outside of the restrictive states of California and New York, about 9.8% of adults have a permit.
In sixteen states, more than 10% of adults have permits. Oregon has fallen slightly below 10% this year. Indiana has the highest concealed carry rate — 23.1%. Alabama is second with 20.5%, and Colorado is third with 17.7%, followed by Pennsylvania (15.88%) and Georgia (13.55%).
The 73-page report said this year saw two more states join the permitless carry column—South Carolina and Louisiana—bringing the total to 29, and that’s a majority of states. By no small coincidence, holdout states are controlled by Democrats.
