Renewal of CCW permits increased

Staff/wire report

COLUMBUS

The number of concealed-carry weapon permits issued in 2018 in the Mahoning Valley declined compared with 2017, according to Ohio Attorney General Office records.

Statewide, the number of new permits issued fell by 10 percent last year to 70,000, compared with 77,281 in 2017 and 116,953 in 2016, according to state records released by Attorney General Dave Yost.

The number of new CCW permits issued last year was the lowest since 2014, Yost reported.

The Valley followed the state trend of fewer new concealed-carry weapon permits issued.

Columbiana County issued 837 permits in 2018, down from 913 in 2017 and 1,461 in 2016.

Mahoning County issued 1,757 permits in 2018, compared with 1,992 in 2017 and 2,840 in 2016.

Trumbull County issued 756 permits in 2018 compared with 949 in 2017, and 1,469 in 2016.

The number of CCW permits renewed last year in Columbiana County was 1,263; 1,379 in Mahoning County; and 2,075 in Trumbull County.

Statewide, a record of nearly 100,000 renewals of CCW permits occurred in 2018, nearly double the number renewed in 2017, state officials reported.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that renewals are required every five years to legally conceal a handgun.

Since the concealed-carry law was enacted in 2004, licenses overall have been renewed more than 400,000 times. Not all of those licenses remain valid.

Also, according to the Dispatch, just over 1,400 requests for permits were denied for failing to meet eligibility requirements, including eight hours of training and passing a criminal-background check.

County sheriffs, who take applications for CCW permits and report the numbers to the state attorney general’s office, suspended 1,738 permits in 2018, a 4 percent increase from 2017.

The number of license-application denials in 2018 was the second-highest in the program’s history. Some 1,418 applicants were denied a permit for various reasons, according to the attorney general’s report.

Suspensions are ordered when holders are charged with certain criminal offenses or are subject to protection orders.

Every quarter of the year, the sheriffs of the state’s 88 counties report CCW statistics to the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission, part of the Ohio attorney general’s office.