Permits processed for personal firearms in Hawaii reached a record high in 2010, the Hawaii Attorney General’s office said Monday.

“A record high total of 12,801 personal/private firearm permit applications were processed statewide during 2010, marking a 1.5 percent increase from the previous record high of 12,696 applications processed in 2009,” according to a press release.

Of the close to 13,000 applications processed in 2010, 95.4 percent were approved resulting in issued permits.

There were 134 permits rejected in 2010. The vast majority of those rejections were for longarms (rifles, shotguns, etc.) rather than for handgun applications.

The attorney general’s office says that firearm registration in Hawaii has increased dramatically over the last 11 years, since data has been systematically compiled and reported: “From 2000 through 2010, the number of permit applications processed annually increased 97.3 percent, the number of firearms registered surged 130.5 percent, and the number of firearms imported rose 110.5 percent.”