RECORD HIGH TALLY OF HAWAII FIREARM PERMIT APPLICATIONS IN 2020

News Release from Office of the Attorney General, March 24, 2021

HONOLULU – The Department of the Attorney General released its annual report today detailing statewide and county firearm registration statistics for calendar year 2020.

A record high total of 26,122 personal/private firearm permit applications were processed statewide during 2020, marking a 62.3% increase from 16,098 applications processed in 2019. Of the applications processed in 2020, 95.8% were approved and resulted in issued permits; 1.4% were approved but subsequently voided after the applicants failed to return for their permits within the specified time period; and a record high proportion of 2.8% were denied due to disqualifying factors.

The 25,024 permits issued statewide in 2020 cover a total of 53,481 firearms registered throughout the year, resulting in a 35.5% increase from the 39,467 firearms registered during 2019. Just under half (26,708, or 49.9%) of the firearms registered during 2020 were imported from out-of-state, with the balance accounted for by transfers of firearms that were previously registered in Hawaii. Rifles and shotguns comprised 45.1% (24,126) and 10.6% (5,673) of total registrations, respectively. The remaining 44.3% (23,682) of firearms registered throughout 2020 were handguns.

Firearm registration activity increased dramatically over the course of the 21 years for which these data have been systematically compiled and reported. From 2000 through 2020, the number of statewide permit applications annually processed increased by 302.5%, the number of firearms annually registered climbed 292.8%, and the number of firearms annually imported rose 269.5%.

Also in 2020, record high tallies of firearms registered and imported were reported for Maui County, a record high tally of firearms imported was reported for Kauai County, and a record high tally of permits processed was reported for the City & County of Honolulu.

The report, entitled Firearm Registrations in Hawaii, 2020, provides a range of additional statistics and analyses focused on firearm permits, registrations, and denials in the State of Hawaii and its four counties. The full report can be downloaded from the Department of the Department of the Attorney General’s Research and Statistics web site at http://ag.hawaii.gov/cpja/rs.

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