Please note that the numbers given are the number of applications that make it to the County Clerk’s Pistol License Office from 1/1 to 12/31 of each year and include FFLs who have to renew their license and a few of the people will be denied a license for multiple reasons so the actual number of new pistol licenses issued will be slightly less.
IF YOU WANT TO GET A PISTOL LICENSE MAKE AN APPOINTMENT ASAP FOR FINGER PRINTING!
THE SOONER YOU GET FINGERPRINTED AND TURN IN YOUR APPLICATION, THE SOONER YOU GET YOUR LICENSE!
The total number of new handgun licenses that made it out of the OC Sheriff’s Dept. and to the Pistol License Dept. in 2017 in Orange County was 2,077. This is two years in a row that applications have set a record and it is even higher than I though that we would have at this point. I thought that numbers would be higher than our historical average but still in than the 1,100 – 1,400 range that I guessed in 2014. Boy was I wrong.
These numbers dispel RECENT REPORTS, and HERE that the number of gun owners are on the decline at least in Orange County. One of the few advantages of the NY handgun regulation is that we can tell how many new handgun owners apply for a license. In most states anyone can go out and just buy a handgun but will need to apply for a license for a Concealed Carry License so you can’t tell from those numbers how many people are new handgun owner and 13 states now have Constitutional Carry and don’t require a license to carry a concealed handgun. In NY we know by the number of new licenses how many new handgun owners there are because they could not have legally owned or purchased a handgun without a license.
- 2017 2,077
- 2016 2,034
- 2015 1,169
- 2014 1,601
- 2013 1,735
- 2012 1,346
- 2011 993
- 2010 1,170
- 2009 1,000
- 2008 700
- 2007 508
- 2006 454
- 2005 446
- 2004 422
- 2003 431
- 2002 600 (LEO retirement after 9/11)
- 2001 508 (LEO retirement after 9/11)
- 2000 374
- 1999 326
- 1998 308
- 1997 432
- 1996 341
- 1995 463
- 1994 508 (Federal Assault Weapons Ban passes and is signed)
- 1993 569 Headlines- Pres. Clinton’s 1st year, Janet Reno is AG, first World Trade Center bombing, Waco, Lorena Bobbitt, SF law office shooting, Colin Ferguson LIRR shooting, original Federal Assault Weapons Ban passes House and Senate in Nov.