2023 saw drastically fewer Ohioans getting concealed carry permits, report says

View a previous report on 2022 concealed carry permit data in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The number of concealed carry licenses issued in Ohio saw a "predictable" sharp decline in 2023, the first full year the state’s permitless carry law was implemented, a report by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office shows. 

In June 2022, Ohio became the 23rd state to allow its citizens to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. However, the law did not eliminate the state’s permitting system, which allows permit holders to carry firearms when traveling in the 39 states that honor Ohio’s concealed carry license. Permit holders must complete eight hours of training. 

From 2021, the last full year permits were required, to 2023, Ohio sheriffs issued 82% fewer concealed carry licenses. 2023 also saw 42% fewer concealed carry licenses issued compared to 2022. 

Franklin County issued the most new licenses and also renewed the most licenses in the state in 2023. While the number of licenses issued decreased over the past year, the number of people who renewed their licenses, which are required every five years, increased nearly 20% compared to 2022.

This past year, Ohio also saw a 4% increase in the amount of licenses that were suspended, which occurs when the license holder has been arrested or charged with certain offenses, or if the licensee is the subject of a protection order. Franklin County saw the second-highest number of people, at 163, have their licenses suspended.

Although permits are no longer mandatory, suspending a license serves as a way to inform nonqualifying residents that they will be criminally charged if caught with a concealed weapon.

While numerous Ohio citizens and organizations were concerned about gun violence increasing in the state following the implementation of permitless carry, a study published by The Center for Justice Research, through a partnership with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Bowling Green State University, claims the law did not increase gun violence in the state. 

The study explored the relationship between permitless carry and crimes involving a gun before and after the enactment of permitless carry in eight of Ohio’s largest cities. The report states that there was a “significant decrease” in crime incidents involving a firearm after the permitless carry law was enacted. Researchers found an overall decline in gun crime in six cities, with rates falling the most in Parma (22%), Akron, Columbus and Toledo (18% each). Gun crime rates increased in Dayton (6%) and Cincinnati (5%).

The study also claims the law did not appear to have any significant effect on law enforcement deaths or injuries by firearm in any of the eight included cities. 

Although this study displayed that gun violence decreased in Ohio after the state's permitless carry law was enacted, overall, research on the topic remains inconsistent. A September 2022 study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health claims firearm assaults rose about 10% in states that relaxed restrictions on concealed carry weapons.