Number of Personal Firearm Permits Jumps nearly 10 Percent in Hawaii during 2018

[Charlie T Waite]

Hawaii processed over 18,000 personal/private firearm permit applications in 2018—up 9.9 percent over the previous year, according to the state Department of the Attorney General.

“Firearm registration activity increased dramatically over the course of the 19 years for which these data have been systematically compiled and reported. From 2000 through 2018, the number of statewide permit applications annually processed increased by 178.5 percent, the number of firearms annually registered leaped 216 percent, and the number of firearms annually imported rose 203.8 percent,” according to report statistics.

The number of permits in 2018 involved a total of 43,033 firearms registered throughout the year—which also was an increase with 3,000 more firearms than in 2017.

“Just over half (21,960, or 51 percent) of the firearms registered during 2018 were imported from out-of-state, with the balance accounted for by transfers of firearms that were previously registered in Hawaii,” the report noted.