| 2008 First Quarter CHL Statistics (re)Released |
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| Written by Daniel White | |
| Friday, 20 June 2008 | |
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We started to write this a week ago, but the CHL statistics from the Ohio AG website disappeared, only to reappear today. The date on the document still reflects last week. Now that the first round of CHLs have started to expire (remember, they used to only be valid for four years), renewals have caused a workload surge for many sheriff's offices. The quarterly report shows that 6,834 licenses were issued, and 2,706 renewed. That means over 9,500 people flowed through the 88 sheriff's offices so far this year. We commend the sheriff's for all their work keeping up with the demand for this, one of the most popular state programs. Overall, the Concealed Handgun License program has done very well, as expected. Looking back at past years, we see a strong trend. 2004 Number of Licenses Issued 45,497 Number of Licenses Renewed 0 Number of Licenses Suspended 78 Number of Licenses Revoked 42 Number of Licenses Denied 436 2005 Number of Licenses Issued 22,487 Number of Licenses Renewed 0 Number of Licenses Suspended 219 Number of Licenses Revoked 75 Number of Licenses Denied 427 2006 Number of Licenses Issued 18,781 Number of Licenses Renewed 0 Number of Licenses Suspended 352 Number of Licenses Revoked 194 Number of Licenses Denied 384 2007 Number of Licenses Issued 22,103 Number of Licenses Renewed 0 Number of Licenses Suspended 502 Number of Licenses Revoked 171 Number of Licenses Denied 434 Ohio Totals for the 1st Quarter of 2008 Number of Licenses Issued 6,834 Number of Licenses Renewed 2,706 Number of Licenses Suspended 135 Number of Licenses Revoked 51 Number of Licenses Denied 114 Overall, 115,702 concealed handgun licenses have been issued. That means of the approximately 11,353,140 citizens in Ohio, over 1% of Ohio citizens have a CHL. Fun fact: if the number of Ohio CHL holders were an army, it would rank as the 29th largest in the world! The 1,795 denials show that the process is working to be sure only the most law-abiding citizens have a CHL. 1,286 licenses have been suspended (1%), and only 533 (.46%) have been revoked. Keep in mind that suspensions and revocations can occur for a variety of reasons, including automatic protection orders as part of the divorce process, charges of a crime for which the defendant was later cleared and the license reinstated, and even death of the CHL holder. Compare that to the fact that 7.85% of drivers licenses were suspended in Ohio in 2007. All of this shows that this is a very popular, safe, and successful personal protection program. |