Current or Former NY State LTC Holder - Read this!

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Current or Former NY State LTC Holder - Read this! Your New York pistol permit can / will be revoked if your do not recertify on the NY State Police Web Site by Jan 31, 2018.

Not to scare or rile anyone up, this is just a heads up for those affected if you are not aware. I post it here because the first two former New York state residents I recently spoke with had not heard about it and would have been affected.

The Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. If this affects you, seek information from the NY County Clerk office that issued your permit.

If you ever had a NY pistol permit, and did not formally surrender it, this effects you.

As background, the New York State Pistol Permit system was (in most cases) run by the county clerks office in each county and was a separate paper based system in each county. Like the original MA FID cards, the NY pistol permits were valid until revoked. Many people were casual about changes of address, surrendering upon moving out of state, or death of owner, etc.

The New York Safe Act, in addition to the regulation of so called assault weapons, also called for the recertification of all pistol permits by the deadline of Jan 31, 2018 and every five years thereafter. Failure to recertify a pistol permit that was issued prior to the SAFE ACT will result in revocation of pistol permit (and the next time you have to answer the question, “have you ever had a LTC revoked”…..you get the drift). Every NY permit holder of record was to be sent a letter about recertification, but if you did not have your current mailing address on file for your permit it seems you were out of luck on the mailing.

The one kernel of goodness written into the NY SAFE ACT on recertification, if a pistol permit holder failed to notify a change of address, the NY State Police will not require the revocation of the permit. I added a copy of relevant section of NY Safe Act at end of this message.

The Monroe County Clerks office (Rochester NY area) had some good information on line. If you have a NY pistol permit I suggest you check on line with the county clerks office that issued your permit.

Here is my understanding of the situation for those OUTSIDE New York City. NYC runs a separate system, and I have no idea on how that works. Once again IANAL, this is not legal advice.


Options for those with active NY state pistol permits

If still a New York State Resident, you need to recertify on line. If necessary update your address at county clerks office. You need your NY drivers license and all info on pistol permit to recertify online. You can also recertify using paper form I believe.

If no longer a full or part time New York State Resident, you can surrender your license to the county clerk that issued permit. Check with county that issued your permit. Surrender keeps permit from being revoked, (and supposedly if you ever return to NY it’s easier to reactivate surrendered permit than start a new application) In the case of Monroe County, you can surrender through the mail.

If a PART TIME New York Resident, you have at least two options
a. surrender you license as above or
b. Recertify you license on line and update mailing address with county clerk with out of state address. (But read Note 1 below as a part time resident won’t have a NY drivers license.)

Note 1. To recertify online, you need either a NY State Drivers license, or a NY State Non Drivers ID, which has same ID numbering system as the Drivers license. Non drivers ID is obtained at Department of Motor Vehicles. DMV web site has list of needed IDs to get non drivers ID. Out of state drivers license alone not enough.

As a side note, although NY does not recognize other state permits, and does not issue non resident permits, the NY Supreme court ruled that part time NY state residents have a right to self defense and to a NY pistol permit, and as a result NY does issue resident pistol permits to part time residents)

Example of how I think system works for a part time NY resident (IANAL) Take for example a non Resident of NY, without a NY drivers license who is part time NY resident. To make things a little more complex, lets say individuals part time residence in NY is in a different county than where permit was issued. This could be a common situation for a snow bird, or those who kept their lake houses or hunting camps in NY when they retired outside of NY.

Step 1. Visit NY Dept. of Motor Vehicles, get non drivers ID
Step 2. Recertify permit online using non drivers ID
Step 3. File paper work with county clerk of issuing county to transfer pistol permit to county of part time residence. Two pieces of paper, $5.00 cost
Step 4. File paper work with county clerk of part time residence county, Three pieces of paper $5.00

EDIT: I have now completed above 4 steps and my updated permit issued.

You could do step 3 and 4 first, then Step 1 and 2. But deadline for step 2 is Jan 31, 2018


Below is the section of the NYSAFE Act that refers to recertification:

Penal Law 400.10 (B)(b) All licensees shall be recertified to the division of state police every five years thereafter. Any license issued before the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand thirteen which added this paragraph shall be recertified by the licensee on or before January thirty-first, two thousand eighteen, and not less than one year prior to such date, the state police shall send a notice to all license holders who have not recertified by such time. Such recertification shall be in a form as approved by the superintendent of state police, which shall request the license holder's name, date of birth, gender, race, residential address, social security number, firearms possessed by such license holder, email address at the option of the license holder and an affirmation that such license holder is not prohibited from possessing firearms. The form may be in an electronic form if so designated by the superintendent of state police. Failure to recertify shall act as a revocation of such license. If the New York state police discover as a result of the recertification process that a licensee failed to provide a change of address, the New York state police shall not require the licensing officer to revoke such license.
(Bold print emphasis added by me)
 
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Yea, I already got this info for the recertification. I appreciate very much the heads up. So many damn rules and regs it makes ones head spin.

Thanks again.
 
My father in upstate NY is 80 years old and owns two handguns.
He received his permit in the 60's and I am sure he considers himself licensed for life.
So now he has to "re-certify"....?

And i still have a NY LTC in a drawer somewhere.
Left NY in 1990....I guess i will mail it in. Hope they choke on it...
 
My father in upstate NY is 80 years old and owns two handguns.
He received his permit in the 60's and I am sure he considers himself licensed for life.
So now he has to "re-certify"....?

And i still have a NY LTC in a drawer somewhere.
Left NY in 1990....I guess i will mail it in. Hope they choke on it...

I just finished helping my 85 year old father-in-law renew his permit, which he's had since he was 24. I printed the application off the website, mailed it to him, and we went through it together before he mailed it in. We were able to check on the status of the recertification online, and print out the confirmation. He's not due to recertify until January of 2022, and I told him I'd help him with that one, too.

F New York, and F Coumo, too.
 
Another bump. Three weeks + left to take action.

One other thing, your NY State Pistol Permit is considered to be a public record, subject to FOIA requests and subsequent publication if a media outlet choses to do so. When you do online recertification you can request your permit information not be available public record. If your license is less than 5 years old and you do not have to rectify, you may still want to complete the form to elect your pistol permit not be made public. I believe you can do this with your county clerks office.
 
Another bump. Two weeks left to take action on original post. .

I'm always pleasantly surprised when dealing with any state agency on non routine issues when things go smoothly. However this was one (or several) of those times
1. Went to NY DMV and obtained my NY non driver ID with MA mailing address. No hassles. Provided you have sufficient ID.
2. Went to County Clerk and requested pistol permit records be transferred to new county of part time residency. No issues
3. Used non driver ID number to recertify on NY state police web site. Allowed me to input data including mailing address different than residence for permit. No issues
4. Went to county clerk of new county of part time residence completed paper work there. Again MA mailing address different than part time NY residence address. No problem.

Result: phone call today that my updated unrestricted NY resident pistol permit (as a part time NY state resident) ready to pick up.
 
I decided not to recertify. I don't want it on my record that my license was revoked so I mailed it back to NY. I'm not going back there so I don't need it. Good luck to the rest of you.
 
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