A few weeks ago (Insider Online, Oct. 9), we quoted John Lott, founder and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), estimating there are “about 19.5 million” people licensed in the United States to carry concealed.
Now, his full report on Concealed Carry in the U.S. is available at the CPRC website, and it confirms his estimate. At the time of this writing, the “official” estimate was 19.48 million, but by now that number could be even higher. With most states returning to “full service” for taking new applications and renewing existing concealed pistol licenses and permits, expect the number to hit 20 million probably by sometime early in 2021, if not sooner.
Lots may depend upon how next Tuesday’s presidential and congressional elections go, not to mention state legislative elections across the nation, so do not forget to vote (by or on) next Tuesday, Nov. 3. Vote like your Second Amendment Rights depend on it — because they do!
According to Lott’s summary of his updated report, “During President Trump’s administration, the number of concealed handgun permits has soared to over 19.48 million — a 34% increase over 2016. However, while gun sales have set records in 2020, the growth in concealed handgun permits has slowed as many states shut down their issuance of new permits. Unlike gun ownership surveys that may be affected by people’s unwillingness to answer personal questions, concealed handgun permit data is the only really ‘hard data’ that we have. Seventeen states no longer provide data on all the people who are legally carrying a concealed handgun because people in those states no longer need a permit to carry.”
Lott is the expert on this. To Insider’s knowledge, he’s the only guy in the country who annually does this estimate. With each annual climb in the numbers, the gun prohibition lobby gets a little crazier.
https://crimeresearch.org/2020/10/new-concealed-carry-report-for-2020-19-48-million-permit-holders-820000-more-than-last-year-despite-many-states-shutting-down-issuing-permits-because-of-the-coronavirus/
https://crimeresearch.org/tag/annual-report-on-number-of-concealed-handgun-permits/
https://crimeresearch.org/