The state attorney general’s office last week released statistics showing a drop in firearms registrations — both statewide and in Hawaii County — for the second straight year.
According to the AG’s annual report firearms registrations, 21,881 personal/private firearm permit applications were processed statewide during 2022, a 6.1% decrease from 23,299 applications processed in 2021.
Of the applications processed in 2022, 96.2% were approved and resulted in issued permits. Another 1.3% were approved but subsequently voided after the applicants failed to return for their permits within a specified time period, and 2.5% were denied due to one or more disqualifying factors.
In Hawaii County, there were 4,510 applications processed last year, a decrease of 7.9% from the 4,899 applications processed in 2021.
Of the applications processed in 2022 on the Big Island, 4214, or 93.4%, were approved and resulted in the issued permits. Fifteen, or 0.33%, were approved but subsequently voided after the applicants failed to for return their permits within the specified time limit. And 281, or 6.2%, were denied due to disqualifying factors.
The Big Island’s denial rate for 2022 was, by far, the highest among the four counties. In fact, the 281 denials were 98 more than recorded in Honolulu, which had 13,276 applications processed — almost four times as many as Hawaii County.
“I would attribute that to the fact that probably a larger percentage of the people here who apply for firearms are also on the medical marijuana registry of the state, and my guess is we have a higher denial rate because of that,” said Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz of the Hawaii Police Department.
The numbers are down from the record-high of 26,122 personal and private firearm permit applications processed statewide during 2020. That year represented a dramatic 62.3% increase from 16,098 applications processed in 2019. In 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic struck, and a spike in gun sales occurred during the lockdown phase early in the pandemic.
“I think during the pandemic, people were scared, and there were a lot of rumors swirling about what the government was and wasn’t going to do, and I think because of that, the application rate went way up,” Moszkowicz said.
The 21,047 permits issued statewide in 2022 cover51,883 firearms registered throughout the year, resulting in a 9.1% decrease from 57,091 firearms registered during 2021. Just over half of the firearms registered during 2022 were imported from out-of-state, with the balance accounted for by transfers of firearms that were previously registered in Hawaii.
Rifles and shotguns comprised 44.3% and 10.3% of total registrations, respectively. The remaining 45.5% of firearms registered throughout 2022 were handguns.
Sean Stueber, co-owner of Stuebs’ Guns &Ammo in Hilo, said he thinks firearms sales are “back to prepandemic levels.”
“It seems pretty normal to me right now,” Stueber said Thursday. “This business is all over the place. It’s very politically driven and news-event driven.
“You see a mass shooting, and there’s a rise in gun sales. It’s driven by two things — people seeking to protect themselves because they’re afraid of something happening near them,” he said. “The other thing that happens is, sometimes, it causes sales of a certain gun to increase. Especially when it’s something like an AR-15 used in a mass shooting. People have a fear that they’re going to be banned, so I’d better get one now. And we haven’t seen that in a long time, actually.”
Although there’s been a dropoff in the past couple of years, firearms registrations increased dramatically over the course of the 23 years for which these data have been systematically compiled and reported. Comparing 2000 to 2022, the number of statewide permit applications annually processed increased by 237.2%, the number of firearms annually registered climbed 281.0%, and the number of firearms annually imported leapt by 313.8%.
Hawaii’s four county police departments also process permit applications for the carrying of concealed firearms in public.
There was a revision last year in the permitting process for private citizens to carry concealed handguns as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on June 23, 2022, in the case of New York State Rifle &Pistol Association v. Bruen.
The high court’s decision says local governments can’t require those seeking a license to conceal carry a gun in public to demonstrate a particular need, such as a direct threat to their safety. Prior to the ruling, Hawaii’s police chiefs issued only six carry permits to private citizens in 21 years, according to state data.
After the Bruen decision, police processed 236 carry permit applications submitted by private citizens statewide in 2022. Of those, 213, or 90.3%, were approved, 23, or 9.7%, were denied.
The vast majority of denials were for providing inaccurate/incomplete information in the application documents, or for not otherwise following the application instructions.
Last year, Hawaii County had 90 concealed carry permit applications — the highest number in the state — of which 89 were approved, a 1.1% denial rate.
Maui County processed 75 applications and approved 56, a 25.3% denial rate.
Kauai County approved all 65 applications it received for concealed carry permits.
And according to the AG’s report, the City &County of Honolulu, by far the most populous county in Hawaii, received only six carry permit applications and denied three.
“I’m sure those numbers are a lot higher now,” Stueber said. “I have people come in on almost a daily basis walking in and showing me their concealed carry permit.”
“I know we have received more (applications) than the other counties — even the more populous counties like Honolulu,” said Moszkowicz. “We had received more applications and approved for more permits.”
Moszkowicz said the length of the permit process is “about a month, give or take.”
He said the high approval for concealed carry permits is “because for them to even be considered, they already have to have firearms registered to them.”
Stueber said he thinks the process is going “very well.”
“You know, for years and years, politicians have been telling us it’s going to be like the Wild West, mayhem in the streets if people are allowed to carry guns here,” he said. “And it doesn’t seem to be causing any issues at all now.”
Moszkowicz said the signing into law of state Senate Bill 1230 “is going to change” the concealed carry permitting process to standardize it statewide, and also mandates “sensitive places” where firearms won’t be allowed.
“The sensitive places part … goes into effect July 1. The concealed carry permitting application part goes into effect Jan. 1 (2024), so that gives us a little time to standardize with the other counties,” Moszkowicz said.
The report, Firearm Registrations in Hawaii, 2022, can be downloaded at http://ag.hawaii.gov/cpja/rs.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.