Colorado Sees Surge in Number of Concealed Carry Permits

[Charlie T Waite]

Concealed-carry permits issued in Colorado, and nationwide, continued to rise over the past few years, according to a recent report from the Crime Prevention Research Center, based in Alexandria, Va.

The report, published in September, stated that Colorado has issued more than half a million permits issued, which places the state in the top third of all states ranked by percentage of people with concealed carry-permits. Currently, more than one in 10 people in Colorado have a permit.

Findings indicate that violent crime has declined since 1999 as the number of concealed-carry permits rose exponentially. Colorado’s violent-crime rate of 361 per 100,000 people is below the national average of over 393 per 100,000 people in 2017.

Concealed-carry permit numbers have been on the rise across the nation, with a reported increase of over 300% since 2007, the report concluded. Notably, one in four people in Alabama are licensed to carry concealed firearms.