Hawai‘i attorney general’s report shows 21,047 firearm permits issued statewide in 202

Nearly 22,000 personal/private firearm permit applications were processed throughout Hawai’i in 2022, according to an annual report released Tuesday by the Hawai‘i Department of the Attorney General.

A total of 21,881 permit applications were processed statewide last year, marking a 6.1% decrease from the 23,299 processed in 2021. Of those applications processed in 2022:

• 96.2 percent were approved and resulted in issued permits.
• 1.3 percent were approved but subsequently voided after the applicants failed to return for their permits within a specified time period.
• 2.5 percent were denied due to one or more disqualifying factors.

The 21,047 permits issued last year cover a total of 51,883 firearms registered throughout the year, resulting in a 9.1 percent decrease from 57,091 firearms registered during 2021. Just more than half (26,913, or 51.9 percent) of the firearms registered in 2022 were imported from outside the state, with the balance accounted for by transfers of firearms that were previously registered in Hawai‘i.

Rifles and shotguns comprised 44.3 percent (22,939) and 10.3 percent (5,340) of total registrations, respectively. The remaining 45.5 percent (23,604) of firearms registered throughout 2022 were handguns.

Firearm registration activity increased dramatically throughout the course of the 23 years for which data have been systematically compiled and reported. Comparing the year 2000 to the year 2022, the number of statewide permit applications annually processed increased by 237.2 percent, the number of firearms annually registered climbed 281 percent and the number of firearms annually imported jumped by 313.8 percent.

The 2022 report provides a range of additional statistics and analyses focused on firearm permits, registrations and denials statewide and in each of the four counties. The full report can be downloaded by clicking here.