Over 26% of adults in Alabama have a permit to carry concealed, according to a new report issued this month from the Crime Prevention Research Center, based in Alexandria, Va.
In the last 12 years, the number of concealed-carry permits has more than tripled in the United States to the current figure of nearly 18.7 million, according to the report.
Even more telling is the fact that 16 states were not included in the data because they have adopted constitutional carry, meaning that a permit is no longer required to carry in those states. As a result, the 18.7-million-permits figure “is undoubtedly an underestimate of the total number of Americans with permits,” the report stated.
The number of handgun permits in the United States increased by 1.4 million since last year, up 8%, which marks the third consecutive year with an increase in concealed-carry permits. The report findings noted that over 7% of American adults have concealed-carry permits.