The Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles rejected thousands of applications for vanity plates in 2017 and 2018.
The DMV provided NBC Connecticut with a list of 4,315 rejected plates in response to a Freedom of Information request.
A spokesperson for the DMV said some of the plates were rejected because they were already taken, but did not specify how many or which ones. Others were nixed because they were sexual in nature or contained profanity.
Among the rejected applications, there are a number of references to guns, such as "ARMED," "GUNLOVR" and "GUNS4FUN."
Alcohol and drug references are also popular. "DUI," "CANABIS" and "DRUGS4U" were all requested and rejected.
SEE THE FULL LIST OF REJECTED PLATES BELOW.
Unlike some other states, the Connecticut DMV does not provide specifics about what is and what isn't allowed on special order plates.
According to the DMV’s website, vanity plates can be any combination of letters and numbers, up to seven characters.
"There will be no dashes or extra spaces between letters. Only one dot is allowed. The dot cannot be placed at the beginning or end of a plate number," the website says.
The website also states that the DMV will not issue one, two, or three digit plates. The letter O cannot be substituted for the number 0.
As for the actual word or message on the plate?
The application says, "Every attempt will be made to accommodate your request, however, the Department of Motor Vehicles reserves the right to deny issuance of certain requests."
The DMV would not provide NBC Connecticut Investigates details about how plate requests are approved or rejected or who even makes the decision.
Les Archer of New Hartford runs the Vanity Plates Photo Blog on Facebook and believes the DMV should be clearer about what is and is not acceptable.
"There's folks on our page that have applied for vanity plates, things that you and I may seem to think should be accepted, but were refused for whatever reason," Archer said.
NBC Connecticut Investigates asked the DMV how many vanity plate applications were received in 2016, 2017 and 2018, as well as how many of those applications were rejected. A spokesperson for the DMV said that it would cost us $650 in programming fees to gather that information for this story.
The vanity license plate application allows you to list up to four choices, stating that the first available preference will be ordered. A new vanity plate on a standard background costs $94.
