Concealed carry permits rise despite clampdown from some states, report finds

A new report reveals that despite some states getting tougher on gun control, the number of Americans with permits to carry concealed firearms has spiked in recent years.

According to data from the Crime Prevention Research Center, there are nearly 19.5 million people in the U.S. with concealed carry permits, showing exponential growth in recent decades.

"There were 2.7 million concealed handgun permit holders in 1999, 4.6 million in 2007, 8 million in 2011, 11.1 million in 2014, and now 19.48 million in 2020," the report says.