As Puna pointed out, the application forms contradict this AG letter. They have 2 categories: "Security" or "Citizen". There was never a method for applying to carry unconcealed without being in the security business.
I will also point out that contrary to the suggestion/implication of Judge Clifford that there is no evidence as to "why" the people denied concealed carry licenses were denied, implying that they may have been disqualified for valid reasons, such as felons, domestic violence convictions, drug and alcohol abuse, etc., and thus no "typical law-abiding citizen" may have ever been denied a license (and thus the Hawaii scheme is not a de facto ban). One problem: the actual raw data submitted monthly via mandate from the county police departments to the Office of Attorney General (OAG) has a space where the reporting department must list the "reason(s)" why a permit (for long gun or handgun) or a license (for "security" or "citizen" carry, See issue #2) were denied. You'll see in looking at these forms,
forms created by the OAG, that there is always a very specific reason given for denying a permit for a firearm ("domestic violence", etc.), but there is NEVER such a specific reason given for denying the carry licenses, EXCEPT FOR "SECURITY" CARRY (aka "open"/"unconcealed"), where they give the same specific disqualifying reasons as they do for the firearm permit denials. For the "citizen" carry (aka "concealed"), every single denial reads "Does not meet chief's criteria", or some version of those words. I know "concealed carry is off the table", but I wanted to counter any claim that the people denied licenses (and trust me, they wouldn't even let you turn in the paperwork for a "security" (their words, not mine) license unless you could show proof of employment by a security company) because they were prohibited persons.
TLDR version: For "Security" licenses denied there is ALWAYS a specific reason given. For "Citizen" licenses denied there is NEVER a specific reason given. Thus further proving that they have never even processed a "citizen" applying for a "security" (which the AG laughably now calls an "unconcealed" carry) license.