A report from the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) released on Nov. 29 indicates that for the second year in a row, the number Concealed Carry Permit holders in the United States fell. “The figure now stands at 21.46 million—a 1.8% drop since last year,” it states. “A major cause of the continuous decline is that 29 states now have Constitutional Carry laws after Louisiana allowed permitless carry, effective July 4, 2024.”
Nearly half of the citizens in the United States—46.8 percent of the population or 157.6 million people—live in states that now recognize Constitutional Carry. In all, 67.7 percent of the nation’s landmass allows some version of the permit-free carry for law-abiding citizens of age.
It’s a trend most in the industry anticipated as permits—good for a varying number of years, depending on the issuing state—come up for renewal. Citizens who don’t need the self-defense advantages of reciprocity when traveling to other states simply let them expire. The money saved is another incentive.
The number of carry permits nationwide hit an all-time high in 2022, with 22.01 million. In 2023 the figure came in at 21.46 million. “The main reason for the drop is that the number of permits declines gradually in the Constitutional Carry states, even though it is clear that more people are legally carrying,” according to the report, which was authored by CPRC’s James R. Lott, Carlisle E. Moody and Rujun Wang.
Results from 2024 indicated 8.2 percent of American adults nationwide have permits. Exclude California and New York—renowned for their restrictive gun laws—from the calculation and that figure jumps to 9.8 percent.
The state with the highest percentage of permit holders is Indiana, at 23.1 percent. Alabama claims second place with 20.5 and Colorado takes bronze at 17.7.
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