(The Center Square) – More than 15,000 new concealed handgun licenses were issued in Ohio in 2023, even though the state stopped requiring concealed carry permits.
Attorney General Dave Yost on Friday issued the state’s annual report on concealed handgun licensing that showed a total of 90,582 permits were issued last year.
Ohio law changed on June 13, 2022, to allow qualifying Ohioans to carry a concealed handgun without a permit even though the permitting system remained in place.
The new report showed county sheriffs issued 15,581 new licenses in 2023 and renewed 75,001 permits. Those wanting to renew a permit must do so every five years.
Each sheriff must report concealed handgun license statistics quarterly to the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission within the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
As previously reported by The Center Square, Yost issued another report in early January that said ending restrictions on concealed carry in the state did not lead to a rise in violent crime.
The report came from a study from his office and the Center for Justice Research at Bowling Green State University that looked at violent crime in Ohio’s eight major cities after the new constitutional carry law took effect.
In the year following the new law, the report showed crimes involving guns dropped across Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Parma and Canton. It also fell individually in six of the eight cities.
Only Cincinnati and Dayton showed an increase of 5% and 6%, respectively.
Researchers looked at data from June 2021 to June 2023, focusing on crimes involving firearms, verified gunshot detection alerts and how many officers were struck by gunfire.
Gun crime fell the most in Parma by 22%, followed by Akron and Toledo, which had 18% decreases. Columbus gun crimes fell from 10.79 per 1,000 crime incidents to 9.55, while Cleveland’s dropped from 10.16 to 9.58. Canton’s rate fell from 12.67 to 11.98.
