States With Highest CCW Percentage

[Ankeny]

Of course, you guys are assuming the statistics are valid, and they are not. The dude ain't even close for my home state. Bad science at it's best.

 

[TechBrute]

One of the contributing factors to TX's low percentage might be the fact that the license is one of the most expensive in the country to get. You're out around $250 to get it.

 

[Standing Wolf]

This Coloradan is embarrassed.

 

[thorn726]

texas also has one of the biggest populations in US, so its not suprising by percentage it is low, but by numbers of actual holders, probably pretty high.
i mean SD with 7% , but how many people in the state?
100? (kidding)
you also have to factor in people living in cities are probably less likely to have the permit or is that wrong?

point being , those millions if city-texans offset the results, and the fact that some of these states have almost no city, more gun carriers.

heheh- and yeah, you Texans can be embarrassed that Austin is refferes to as
"a Cool Town" by hippies around here, there's part of your problem!

 

[TallPine]

I'm not surprised about the (apparent) low numbers in Montana, since as was pointed out we very nearly have "Vermont carry" plus you can carry loaded in a vehicle too.

And carrying without a permit is only a misdemeanor anyway.

 

[Sistema1927]

New Mexico - 0.16%

I am shocked that it is that high. Both the legislature and DPS certainly created a bunch of hoops to jump through, but I guess that it is better than nothing (but not by much).

Last I heard, DPS has finally issued right at 3,000 permits. That means that 2,999 of my fellow citizens had the fortitude to keep on going just like I did. It was real tempting to do without, what with open carry and vehicle carry being legal here, but I felt that I had to do it for all those who have worked so hard to get something enacted. Besides, after renewing my Florida permit it didn't feel right to have a privilege in 25 or so other states that I didn't have at home.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

One reason Florida doesn't have more is because it is legal to carry a handgun in your vehicle without one. I know a lot of people that keep guns in their cars but don't want to carry one on their person.

 

[pluvo]

In Arizona open carry is legal. This might skew the numbers a bit.

Other than Phoenix and Tucson most of the state is very rural, and permits don't really apply when you live in the boonies.

Only three of my coworkers that have permits, but easily 3x as many are gun owners and carry openly when they do carry.

Also, 20% of our permits belong to women. That's a good thing in my book.

Arizona stats (as of June 2003) are here: http://www.dps.state.az.us/ccw/stats.asp

 

[eagle45]

I agree totally with the comment about Ohio's numbers increasing if/when the 'carry in vehicle' law is changed. I can carry concealed but in my car/truck it must be in a holster in plain site, locked in a case in plain site or locked in the glovebox? This is concealed? :banghead:

All this does is risk alarming people that see you arm/disarm as you leave or enter your vehicle. Plus 'plain site' is relative.

 

[B36]

Adults



Must not have counted the kids in Indiana. 18 year olds can get permit here.

 

[pokey074]

Mwahahahahahahaha!!! Finally we're number one! Do NOT comitt criminal acts here!

 

[stevesmith7]

Colorado .2% ????
Let's see. Population is somewhere about 3.5M (from memory??)
.002 x 3.5M = 7,000.
I've read that El Paso County has issued around 5,000 permits alone.
Not many others out there huh???


Steve

edit: That .2% was of adults. 3.5M includes all population. This can't be right.

S

 

[pax]

Must not have counted the kids in Indiana. 18 year olds can get permit here.

Yes, he did. Ken defined "adult" based upon the age at which a person could obtain a carry permit in each state.

Here's what he wrote about that (copied from the WA-CCW list):

(someone else asked him) "First, how do you define "adult?" Most states issue to 21 and over only. About 10 issue to 18 and over. A few start CCW at 23 or 25. Did you crank that into your percentages?"

(He replied) Census has 21+ and 18+ counts, so those were easy. In my
spreadsheet, I added a column for the age of an "adult" where CCW is
concerned. I was surprised that this altered numbers more than I
anticipated. For example, when I was still using the 21+ Population
in South Dakota, I believe the percent of licensees was 7.99

New Mexico (age 25) and Missouri (age 23) did initially throw me.
But after rechecking the numbers, I noticed Census had population
breakdowns based on age in 5 and 10 year blocks. 20-24, 25-29,
etc. For New Mexico, my "Target" population was the sum of the 25-
29 block and all other blocks up thru the oldest.

For Missouri, I had to take a SWAG. I took the Age 21+ count, and
subtracted 40 percent (2/5ths) of the 20-24 Population count. I
conjectured there's an approximately equal spread of folks in each
Year of Age from 20 to 24. 40 percent of the 20-24 Population
should approximately equal the number of 21 and 22 year olds. Given
that Missouri is so new to the game, this should not skew their
numbers significantly--also I think the number of licensees was an
estimate and not a recorded number the state keeps.

Ankeny, which state are you in and why do you think the numbers are off?

pax

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Update and minor correction

Ken posted a minor correction this morning, which is reflected on my site. NM is at 0.17%, up 0.01%.

I have a follow up with breakdowns by "red" and "blue" states, plus info by type of CCW law (shall issue, may issue, no issue, VT carry).

http://blogostuff.blogspot.com/2004/12/follow-up-on-ccw-s.html

 

[grampster]

I'd like to know the actual numbers by each state.

 

[pax]

grampster ~

He posted the full spreadsheet on the WA-CCW page at Yahoo Groups.

I haven't gone to look at it, since I avoid the Yahoo web site on general principles, but the hard numbers are there.

You could probably temporarily subscribe to the WA-CCW Yahoo list in order to look at the spreadsheet.

pax

 

[RevDisk]

So which state has the most permits all and all? It's looking most likely to be PA, because of Pittsburg and Philly's population density. I do love PA's system. The lack of training requirement is what is limiting the number of states with reciprocity with PA, but I still prefer it this way. Next up, Florida CCW.

Even the PA liberals are largely gun owners. We have a lot of firepower in this state.

 

[Wildalaska]

Wheres Alaska

WildoyeahdontneedapermitsorryillshutupAlaska

 

[voilsb]

Originally Posted By reagansquad:
I'm from Washington and I can believe it. I have heard that we have more NRA members per capita than any other state. Also, most of Washington is pretty rural and still has a lot of its 'frontier' mentality. There are a HECK of a lot of liberal gun owners here... myself included. Most Washinton State liberals aren't so bad... They have a socially libertarian slant. In fact, our Democrat governor just signed a reciprocity bill.

And yet you're not allowed to have machine guns in Washington ...

 

[JohnBT]

"Can you believe that Pennsylvania, Conneticut and Washington have a higher percentage of adults with concealed carry permits than states like Texas, Arizona, or Florida?"

Sure, folks some places are more prone to asking permission than some folks other places.

John

 

[dairycreek]

A CCW is easy to get in Washington!

I have a CCW for both Oregon and Washington. Oregon has some requirements. Washington has none. Just sign up, pay your money and (given that the crime check is okay) you will receive a permit. That's all I had to do to get mine as an out-of-state resident. Swee t Good shooting

 

[B36]

Pax, look at the icons I used in my post, lose your sense of humor

 

[Zaire]

Don't feel bad guys cuz my state is 0.00%

 

[aerod1]

I have a Texas CHL and carry daily. There are however a lot of folks here who have carried for years and have never bothered to take the CHL classes and get a license. This is especially true in rural Texas.

Jim

 

[280PLUS]

let's see,

10,000,000 x .0523 = 523,000

evidently it's gone up here cause it was ~ 4% just a few years ago per the state police.

now if we could just get rid of our baby AWB