Firearm permit applications in Hawaiʻi up last year, state report says

The Hawaiʻi Department of the Attorney General on Tuesday released its annual report on state firearm registrations, showing continued growth in permit applications alongside a slight decline in the total number of firearms registered in 2025.

The report titled “Firearm Registrations in Hawaiʻi 2025” said 19,364 personal and private permit applications to acquire firearms were processed statewide last year.

That marks a 14.7 percent increase from the 16,879 applications processed in 2024.

Of the applications reviewed in 2025, 95.3 percent were approved and resulted in issued permits. A record-high 3.9 percent were voided due to cancellations or technical issues, while 0.8 percent were denied because of disqualifying factors, tying the state’s record-low denial rate set in 2014.

The 18,451 permits issued statewide covered 44,401 firearms registered during the year, a slight 0.5 decrease from the 44,624 firearms registered in 2024. More than half of the firearms registered in 2025 — 25,065 or 56.5 percent — were imported from out of state, the highest proportion on record.

The remaining firearms were transferred from a previous registration within Hawaiʻi.

By firearm type, handguns accounted for a record-high 53.3 percent of all registrations, totaling 23,682. Rifles made up a record-low 37.6 percent with 16,677 registered, while shotguns comprised 9.1 percent, or 4,042 firearms.

The report also highlights long-term trends, noting significant increases over the 26 years since the state began systematically compiling the data.

From 2000 through 2025, the number of permit applications processed annually rose by 198.4 percent, firearm registrations increased by 226.1 percent, and firearm imports climbed 246.8 percent.

Estimates from the late 1990s placed the number of privately owned firearms in Hawaiʻi at more than one million. Between 2000 and 2025, a total of 947,044 firearms were registered in the state — including some registered multiple times by different owners — and 495,315 were imported.

An unknown number of firearms also permanently left the state during that period.

In addition to permit and registration data, the report includes statewide and county-level statistics on permit denials and revocations, prohibited weapon confiscations and licenses issued to private security personnel to carry firearms.

The Department of the Attorney General said data on handgun carry licenses for private citizens is now published separately in a new annual report series titled “Licenses To Carry Handguns in Hawai‘i.”