Ohio Issues Record Number of Concealed Carry Licenses In 2016

COLUMBUS, OH - Last year, the state of Ohio issued the most concealed carry licenses in more than a decade. County sheriffs doled out more than 158,000 licenses in 2016, the most since 2004, according to a report from the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

The report, released today, shows that 117,953 new licenses were issued in Ohio last year. That's in addition to 40,982 license renewals. The previous record for new licenses issued was in 2013 when county sheriffs gave out 96,972 new licenses.

The state also hit a five-year high in concealed carry license suspension and revoking in 2016. There were 697 revoked licenses in 2016, up from 530 in 2015 and 373 in 2014. Permanent revoking of a license can happen if someone is convicted of a crime, or was disqualified for drug-or-alcohol dependency or mental illness issues. Sheriffs are not required to report to the state why they revoked someone's license.

Any time a concealed carry license holder is arrested, charged with certain offenses, or has a protection order issued against them, their license must be suspended. In 2016, there were 1,669 license suspensions. For comparison, in 2015, there were 1,319 license suspensions.

Sheriffs are not required to report why a license has been suspended. However, sheriffs are allowed to reinstate a concealed carry license if charges against a license holder are dropped or dismissed.

While the state approved more than 158,000 concealed carry licenses, the state also denied 1,634 concealed carry license applications. That's up significantly from 1,117 denials in 2015.

In Cuyahoga County, there were 1,430 new concealed carry licenses issued. Fifteen licenses were revoked and 34 were suspended.

You can view the full report here.

Photo from Shutterstock