The only nonresidents eligible for a license are local workers, who may apply to the licensing officer in the city or county of their principal employment or principal place of business. See N.Y. Penal Law § 400.00(3)(a). Section 400.00(3)(a) provides:
Applications shall be made and renewed, in the case of a license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver, to the licensing officer in the city or county,
as the case may be, where the applicant resides, is principally employed or has his principal place of business as merchant or storekeeper. . . .
Id. The statute does not provide a mechanism for any other nonresident applications. One New York appellate court has explained that nonresident applications would be inconsistent with "the purposes underlying the pistol permit procedures, namely, to insure that only persons of acceptable background and character are permitted to carry handguns and to provide a method for reporting information on the identity of persons possessing weapons and the weapons themselves. . . ." Mahoney v. Lewis, 199 A.D.2d 734, 735, 605 N.Y.S.2d 168 (3d Dep't 1993). Nonresidents without in-state employment are completely excluded from the license-application procedure.[13]
[13]New York courts have limited resident applications to persons who are New York domiciliaries. See id. (rejecting application of a New York property owner with his principal residence in Toms River, New Jersey); cf. In re Davies, 133 Misc.2d 38, 41, 506 N.Y.S.2d 626 (Oswego County Ct.1986) (limiting application to locality "where the applicant maintains his or her permanent or principal home").
