Firearms

Handgun Carry Licenses:

May 20, 2026 – The Hawaiʻi Department of the Attorney General released its second annual report today presenting statewide and county data from calendar year 2025 on the licensing of private persons to carry concealed handguns in public for the purpose of lawful self-defense.

According to the report, on December 31, 2025, a statewide total of 3,764 private persons held a valid license to carry (LTC) a concealed handgun, comprising 0.34% of the state’s resident population of persons age 21 or older, and marking a 70.5% increase from the 2,207 licensees tallied on December 31, 2024. All four counties reported increases for 2025, with the largest in the City and County of Honolulu (up 90.0%) and the smallest in Kaua‘i County (up 20.6%). The 2025 total count includes persons holding still-valid licenses issued in 2024 (the first complete year of the new licensing program) plus new licensees from 2025.

The total licensees in 2025 were overrepresented in Hawai‘i County (17.4% of statewide licensees as compared to 14.4% of the state’s resident population of persons age 21 or older) and Kaua‘i County (7.8% and 5.2%, respectively). Licensees were notably underrepresented in Maui County (6.3% of statewide licensees versus 11.3% of the resident population age 21+) and to a lesser degree in the City and County of Honolulu (68.4% and 69.1%, respectively).

Throughout 2025, a statewide total of 1,994 new LTC applications were received by the county police departments, while 1,968 licenses were issued (some licensees hold multiple licenses in order to select between different carry guns), 38 were denied, and eight were revoked. These measurements reflect only the actions that occurred during calendar year 2025; some applications received later in the year were not completely processed by year’s end, so the applications are included in the 2025 report but the associated outcomes (i.e., issued, denied, and/or revoked LTCs) will be included accordingly in subsequent editions. Similarly, applications that were received in 2024 are not included in this report, but all associated outcomes that occurred in 2025 are included. Readers are thus cautioned against calculating precise approval, denial, or revocation rates, although increasingly confident estimates can be made as overlapping data for additional years are reported.

The 38 statewide LTC denials in 2025 involved a total of 60 reasons for denial. The top three categorical reasons for denial were that the applicant: was found to be lacking the essential character or temperament necessary to be entrusted with a firearm (33.3% of all denial reasons); is legally prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition (26.7%); and/or did not submit a properly completed application (15.0%). All 20 of the denials that were due in whole or part to the applicants’ perceived character or temperament shortcomings were reported by the Honolulu PD.

Ten reasons were provided for the eight LTC revocations made statewide during 2025, including that the revoked licensees were: being prosecuted and/or were convicted for disqualifying criminal offenses (60.0% of all revocation reasons); subjects of a restraining or protective order (20.0%); fugitives from justice or prohibited from possessing a firearm under 18 United States Code § 922 or any other provision of federal law (10.0%); or were revoked for “Other” reasons, in this single case after the licensee was allegedly witnessed mishandling the LTC firearm in public and later failed to announce to responding police officers the possession of a firearm and LTC (10.0%).

Denied LTC applicants and revoked licensees may seek relief from those actions, first through an administrative appeal decided by the respective county police chief, and secondly, if needed, through a judicial review made by the Hawaiʻi State Judiciary. A total of four administrative appeals were requested statewide in 2025, with two being granted, one denied, and one pending at year’s end. The Judiciary reported that no LTC judicial reviews were requested in 2025.

Licenses To Carry Handguns in Hawaiʻi, 2025

Prior Editions:

Licenses To Carry Handguns in Hawaiʻi, 2024

Firearm Registrations:

April 14, 2026 – The Hawaiʻi Department of the Attorney General released its annual “Firearms Registration in Hawaiʻi” report today detailing firearm registration statistics for calendar year 2025.

A total of 19,364 personal/private applications for permits to acquire firearms were processed statewide during 2025, marking a 14.7% increase from 16,879 applications processed in 2024. Of the applications processed in 2025, 95.3% were approved and resulted in issued permits; a record high of 3.9% were voided (canceled/rejected for technical reasons), and 0.8% were denied due to one or more disqualifying factors, tying 2014’s record-low denial rate.

The 18,451 permits issued statewide in 2025 cover a total of 44,401 firearms registered throughout the year, resulting in a 0.5% decrease from 44,624 firearms registered during 2024. Over half (25,065, for a record high proportion of 56.5%) of the firearms registered during 2025 were imported from out-of-state, with the balance accounted for by transfers of firearms that were previously registered in Hawai‘i. Rifles and shotguns comprised a record low 37.6% (16,677) and a non-record 9.1% (4,042) of total registrations, respectively. A record high of 53.3% (23,682) of all firearms registered throughout 2025 were handguns.

Firearm registration activity increased dramatically over the course of the 26 years for which these data have been systematically compiled and reported. From 2000 through 2025, the number of statewide permit applications annually processed increased by 198.4%, the number of firearms annually registered leapt by 226.1% and the number of firearms annually imported surged by 246.8%.

Conservative estimates from the late-1990s placed the number of privately owned firearms in Hawai’i at somewhere over one million. Adding to that during the 2000 through 2025 period, a total of 902,643 firearms were registered (including some more than once, by different owners) and 470,250 were imported, while an unknown number of firearms permanently left the state.

The report, entitled “Firearm Registrations in Hawaiʻi, 2025,” provides a range of 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 by the Department of the Attorney General in a new annual report series entitled “Licenses To Carry Handguns in Hawai‘i.”

Firearm Registrations in Hawaiʻi, 2025

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