Buckeye Reporter

Ohio's Attorney General Dave Yost released the annual report on concealed handgun licensing for 2024, revealing a total of 73,552 new or renewed permits issued in the state. The report, published on March 3, highlights a decline in both new licenses and renewals compared to the previous year.

County sheriffs across Ohio issued 14,440 new licenses in 2024, marking a 7.3% decrease from 2023. Renewals also saw a significant drop of 21.2%, with only 59,112 processed. This decline follows changes to state law that took effect in June 2022, allowing qualifying residents to carry a concealed handgun without a permit while maintaining the existing permitting system.

"The change in law, of course, did not eliminate the permitting system," said Yost. "Although there has been a predictable decrease in the number of concealed-carry licenses since the law took effect in June 2022, more than 14,000 new licenses were issued by Ohio’s 88 county sheriffs in 2024 and nearly 60,000 licenses were renewed."

Under Ohio law, county sheriffs are tasked with issuing and renewing concealed-carry licenses as well as suspending and revoking them. Since beginning this responsibility in 2004, the peak year for new licenses was recorded in 2016 with 117,953 issued. The highest number of renewals occurred in 2021 with a total of 108,622.

In terms of license suspensions and revocations for the year 2024, there were notable decreases: suspensions totaled 1,439 (down by 22%) and revocations reached 339 (a decrease of 16.3%). License denials amounted to 377 cases (down by 13.3%).

Lake County led with the most license suspensions at 125 cases while Franklin County had the highest number of revocations at 77. Lucas County topped license denials with a count of 44.

The top five counties for issuing new licenses were Franklin (1,154), Lake (890), Hamilton (700), Montgomery (467), and Summit (461). For renewals, Franklin led again with a total of 3,489 followed by Lake (3,008), Clermont (2,177), Montgomery (2,020), and Butler (1,947).

For more detailed information on Ohio's concealed carry statistics for last year or other related inquiries about permitless carry laws in Ohio visit ohioattorneygeneral.gov/2024-Concealed-Carry-Annual-Report.