Honolulu, Hawaiʻi – The Hawaiʻi Department of the Attorney General today released its annual “Firearms Registration in Hawaiʻi” report, detailing firearm registration statistics for calendar year 2024. The report indicates a notable decrease in both permit applications processed and firearms registered statewide compared to the previous year.
A total of 16,879 personal/private applications for permits to acquire firearms were processed statewide during 2024. This marks a 28.3% decrease from the 23,528 applications processed in 2023. Of the applications processed last year, 95.7% (16,147) were approved and resulted in issued permits, 2.8% (467) were voided (rejected for technical reasons), and 1.6% (265) were denied due to various disqualifying factors.
The 16,147 permits issued statewide in 2024 covered a total of 44,624 firearms registered throughout the year. This represents a 13.9% decrease from the 51,807 firearms registered during 2023. Approximately half (26,267, or 50.7%) of the firearms registered in 2024 were imported from out of state, with the remaining balance accounted for by transfers of firearms previously registered in Hawaiʻi.
Categorically, rifles comprised the largest share of registrations at 41.2% (18,373), followed by handguns at 49.2% (21,951), and shotguns at 9.6% (4,300).
Despite the recent decrease, firearm registration activity has increased dramatically over the long term for which these data have been systematically compiled and reported (25 years). From 2000 through 2024:
- The number of statewide permit applications annually processed increased by 160.1%.
- The number of firearms annually registered jumped by 227.7%.
- The number of firearms annually imported climbed 215.6%.
Conservative estimates from the late-1990s placed the number of privately owned firearms in Hawaiʻi at over one million. During the 2000-2024 period, a total of 902,643 firearms were registered (including some registered more than once by different owners) and 470,250 were imported, while an unknown number of firearms permanently left the state.
The report, titled “Firearm Registrations in Hawaiʻi, 2024,” provides additional state and county statistics on firearm permits and registrations, permit denials and revocations, prohibited weapon confiscations, and licenses to carry firearms for private security personnel. Statistics on carry licenses for private citizens are published in a separate annual report series by the Department of the Attorney General, titled “Licenses To Carry Handguns in Hawaiʻi.”
The full report can be downloaded from the Department of the Attorney General’s Research and Statistics website at https://ag.hawaii.gov/cpja/rs/firearms/.