Concealed Carry Goes Mainstream: Ohio Issuing 17 Licenses per Hour
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) has released the Concealed Handgun License (CHL) statistics for the first quarter of 2017.
It has been widely assumed that without President Obama, there would be a big drop in gun sales and demand for CHL’s. It has been also assumed that the big numbers were driven only by fear of Hillary Clinton and that President Donald Trump would eliminate that fear, resulting in a plummet for demand for all things gun related.
Now we know those predictions were wrong.
Ohio issued 24,516 new CHL’s in the first quarter. That is slightly more than the 4th quarter of 2016, and almost as many as the 3rd quarter of 2016. It was a decline compared to the first quarter of 2016, and broke a streak of 7 consecutive quarters of year-over-year increases, but that is comparing it to the 36,118 licenses issued a year ago; the record quarter for the entire time Ohio has been issuing licenses.
Stats at a glance:
- For the first time, there are over 610,000 active Ohio CHL’s.
- 24,516 is more new CHL’s than any quarter in 2014 or 2015.
- This is a 32% decrease over the same period the prior year.
- There were 37,683 total new license and renewals.
- 13,167 renewals represents an approximate 73% rate, which is average.
- There are 3% more active CHL’s than there were 3 months ago.
- There are 17% more active CHL’s than there were 1 year ago.
- Sheriff’s issued 17 CHL’s per hour.
- Sheriff’s issued over 2,930 CHL’s per week.
- The revocation rate is about 0.4% (most due to problems with trainers, not license holders).
None of this is surprising to Ohio concealed carry instructors who remain busy with demand for their classes. Buckeye Firearms Association was widely criticized for supporting a reduction in required training from 12 to 8 hours. But our reasoning was simple; we wanted more people to get training. The numbers indicate that the new law is working as we intended.
It is always difficult to assign specific reasons for behavior. Continued terrorist attacks around the world contribute to people’s interest in being prepared and able to take care of themselves and their families. Another significant attack domestically will further increase demand.
Legislative improvements that went into effect in March of this year will help, but there is also confusion with the new laws that creates new problems for license holders. Those issues need to be addressed by the legislature.
There are multiple good bills introduced in the Ohio legislature. Moving these bills quickly instead of waiting for lame duck next December will make the entire CHL program work better.
Demand continues to support a theory expressed by Professor Brian Anse Patrick that demand has not leveled off, but is increasing over time. Concealed carry used to be mostly hard core shooters, but it has become increasingly popular with soccer moms and others who just want to be safe in their everyday life. It is becoming mainstream.
We are now in our 13th year of concealed carry in Ohio. It is past time to fully “de-Taft” our CHL laws and adopt a best practice approach. While no large group of people is perfect, the CHL-holder has proven to be considerably more law-abiding than the population at large.
Political strength comes through numbers. We ask all CHL’s to consider a membership to Buckeye Firearms Association or a donation to BFA-PAC.
Jim Irvine is the Buckeye Firearms Association President, and recipient of the NRA-ILA's 2011 "Jay M. Littlefield Volunteer of the Year Award" and the CCRKBA's 2012 "Gun Rights Defender of the Year Award."
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