Contemplating a NY move: information please

[Jetpilot007]

Unless one has "Proper Cause", one cannot obtain an Unrestricted CCWP or "Full Carry" in Westchester County. If you can demonstrate a need, such as type of profession SECURITY, PI, NUCLEAR PHYSICIST, then one may have a chance.

Keep in mind that the political atmosphere may change with the upcoming Supreme Court Ruling Re: Mcdonald v. City of Chicago. The premise of the case is "Does the 2nd Amendment Apply to a state level". Should the court rule yes, which it is anticipated to rule, then the New York State legislature WILL have to ease their ONEROUS RESTRICTIONS ON PISTOL PERMITS.

Good Luck.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[press1280]

As some others have pointed out, a NY state permit is not honored in NYC. As a general rule, more rural counties typically are easier to get CCWs.
You said your wife will work in NYC, but what about you? Some others recommended CT but in order to get licensed for a CCW in NY you'll need to be a resident or have some kind of buisness in NY(this part is debatable).
You may just want to consider the financials first instead of the CCW. McDonald(and other cases currently in the pipeline) will force shall-issue at some point. Just hang in there.

[hamlet]

New York State legislature WILL have to ease their ONEROUS RESTRICTIONS ON PISTOL PERMITS.

Not necessarily. First, the initial Supremes ruling did not rule out restrictions - specifically listing quite a few that it said were not changed by the ruling.

Second, almost all of the time, in NY State restrictions are County Ordinances and in only some Counties and only have to do with Unrestricted CCW, not with having a pistol permit; since these are not State Gun Law to begin with, if some regulations did need to be loosened it would be certain counties' not the State..


New York City does not have the usual State permit, but it's own. It does not allow State permits to be used in NYC, and I believe NYC permits are not good in the rest of the state. So, it would be NYC that would have to change if any ruling had sway there.

A new ruling likely on applicability to the states of the Supremes' original ruling won't change anything that way anyhow. If any restrictions not in the original ruling are to be unconstitutional, it will be new cases that are brought to the court involving specific regulations. And that would include CCW regs anywhere, which were named in the Supreme's ruling as NOT being changed under that ruling.

In other words, the Supremes' ruling treats absolute outlawing of guns as being under the province of the 2nd Amendment and unconstitutional, but treats the 2nd Amendment like all Amendments: that protect basic rights but rights that are all bounded by the allowance of modification, regulation and non-application in certain situations ( the "screaming 'fire!' in a crowded theater" metaphor used for Freedom of Speech etc.)

But forget all that, on a practical level the only thing a comparison between NY and other states in terms of rates of Pistol Permits and specifically CCW permits would show is that it does NOT have onerous permit regulations since NY State rates are, at worst, high average in comparison to the country.

[hudsonvalley]

Orange County...about 60 miles North of Bloomberg....Unrestricted possible...the good thing about having a NY permit, you can apply for Conn. and Pa. with it.....You can't get a NY permit if you live in Conn. because NY won't recognize it.....food for thought.

[Majorlk]

I live in Florida and NY part of the year. The differences between states can be very different...but....it depends where in NY you choose to live. New York City is out as far as carry permits. They are almost impossible to get and all other permits issued in NY State are invalid in New York City. In other parts of the State the permits are issued county by county, with each having it's own set of rules. Westchester is one of the most restrictive. The application is long and it requires three or four notarized references. It takes months to get it submitted (by appointment only) and then it's 4-6 months to get a permit. When you do, it will be "Target Only" which means you are only allowed to carry to and from the range. Moving away from Westchester County, you enter Putnam County. Restricted for 1 year but you can petition for full carry after that. You may or may not get it. The best county to try is Dutchess County (Poughkeepsie area). They don't issue restricted permits, but may have minimum residency requirements before you can apply. You'd probably be better off in Connecticut, but the closer you are to NY the more $$$ it will be to live. I forgot to mention the addition of guns to the permit. The Westchester permit is the one I'm most familiar with. You must list all your guns by serial number on the permit. When you want a new gun, you buy and pay for it and the FFL dealer holds it for you. He issues you a purchase coupon and you take it to the County Clerks office. Then you wait 2-4 weeks for a judge to sign off on it. Then they mail you the revised permit (and purchase coupon) back and you take same back to the FFL dealer to pick up your new firearm. Sounds like fun ...huh? Welcome to the Peoples Republic of NY.

Connecticut is (slightly) cheaper than anything close to NYC, but just know that the only state in the Northeast that honors a CT permit is Vermont. You can get a non-res CT permit, but it is essentially useless outside CT.

[tommy3rd]

Unless your wife gets really famous on Broadway or ends up being followed by a stalker, you can forget about a CCW in NYC. If you really want a CCW, go into law enforcement with that law degree. You'll probably end up in the prosecutor's office or something, then you'll get your nationwide CCW. ;-)
Otherwise, somewhere other than the 5 boroughs is where you should consider finding a place.
oh, and btw, don't even think of new jersey. lol

[gasmitty]

You can get a non-res CT permit, but it is essentially useless outside CT.

The CT non-res permit keeps me legal to carry when I travel back there to visit friends & family. My AZ CCW is valid in about 3 dozen states, but NOT CT. (what's wrong with this picture?)

[SCfromNY]

A couple of things. First and foremost you have to make sure about pricing. Everyone telling you how expensive Westchester is are correct, and that is expensive by NY standards not FL standards. My son lives in Orange County, about 1 1/2 hours from NYC. (NOT DURING RUSH HOURS!!!) His moderate 3 bedroom home was $250,000 with taxes of $6500 per year.

My friend lives near Binghamton in Rochester county, 4 hours from NYC and things are more moderate but that is far away. He had to put the 2 S&W M&Ps he bought on both his and his wife's permit or they legally could not shoot each others gun.

Getting a handgun in NY:
Be a resident
Have 4 references in same county or a reason why they are not
No relatives or law enforcement
Be prepared to have neighbors made aware of your permit request.
With permit:
Find handgun you want and place deposit.
Bring receipt to police for approval
Bring approval to gun store and order gun
Gun arrives and you bring to police to have it noted on your permit
You are now able to have a handgun in NY.

[boscobeans]

Albany Law School..Google it.

Counties around Albany are Matter of Fact when it comes to pistol permits. Apply, satisfy the requirements and you get a permit (some counties issue NON-RESTRICTED as a standard). Albany is a tad more paperwork involved but still not a problem. 2 and 1/2 hrs from NYC. College town with lots for college aged people to do and see.
Just another option for you to ponder...

OMO

bosco

[Nexttime]

A couple of things. First and foremost you have to make sure about pricing. Everyone telling you how expensive Westchester is are correct, and that is expensive by NY standards not FL standards. My son lives in Orange County, about 1 1/2 hours from NYC. (NOT DURING RUSH HOURS!!!) His moderate 3 bedroom home was $250,000 with taxes of $6500 per year.

My friend lives near Binghamton in Rochester county, 4 hours from NYC and things are more moderate but that is far away. He had to put the 2 S&W M&Ps he bought on both his and his wife's permit or they legally could not shoot each others gun.

Getting a handgun in NY:
Be a resident
Have 4 references in same county or a reason why they are not
No relatives or law enforcement
Be prepared to have neighbors made aware of your permit request.
With permit:
Find handgun you want and place deposit.
Bring receipt to police for approval
Bring approval to gun store and order gun
Gun arrives and you bring to police to have it noted on your permit
You are now able to have a handgun in NY.

This is one of the reasons I posted the link to the thread about various county permits. The post I quoted is correct for some counties but not others.

Also, you do not need to have a gun on your permit to fire it. You do have to have a permit in order to handle a gun though. Having someone's gun on your permit helps if you have to hold on to their gun for various reasons.

As for purchasing a gun, in Monroe county, the process is different than listed above. You purchase the gun, take the receipt to the clerks office, they add to it your permit and then you can pick up the gun from the FFL. For face to face private sales, just pay for the gun and you can take possession right away but you still have to take the receipt and have the gun added to your permit. The seller should but doesn't have to, have the gun removed from theirs.

Also, they never contacted my neighbors, they only called my references. In some counties they will call a spouse and ask if they are ok with the permit, in Monroe county, they don't.

It's worth reading up to see which counties are better than others. The last thing you want is to be stuck with the hunting/target permit rather than a full carry permit which WILL happen if you pick the wrong county.

[moggie6]

Dutchess County gives unrestricted pistol permits which are valid in all of New York State with the exception of NYC. There is NO New York City Carry.

What you can do if you are moving to Dutchess County is call the sheriffs office and explain your situation to the pistol permit office. They will give you instructions on what to do with your handguns. They have told people to hold onto their pistols and keep them locked in there house until a permit is granted.

There is a 6 month residency requirement for a Dutchess County Pistol Permit. After that you may apply. It will take around 3 months to get the permit processed. The pistol permit is valid for life. It will cost around $125 I think?

You should be aware that New York State has a magazine restriction of 10 rounds. A pre ban mag is allowed. Pre 1994 that is. When it comes to the purchase of pistols in Dutchess County you do have to buy the pistol first. Than go to the sheriffs office and have the pistol added to your permit. They will then mail you a new pistol permit with the pistol added to it. You can then go and pick up your pistol from the store or private seller. Each of your pistol's are listed on the back of your permit. This process takes a week.

If carrying a handgun for self defense please see NYS Penal Law's Article 35 on the use of force. Hope that helps. Please private message me if you need a reference!

[JohnWFD]

Save alot of headaches and move to Connecticut or even better Pennsylvania....

[REDTAIL]

If you decide to move to Upstate NY make sure that you move to a county that the judge gives out only Non Restricted Permits, Judges are starting to only give out Restricted Permits, Join the NYS FIREARMS FORUM & read the problems people are having with this in the different NYS counties before you decide where to move to .On the forum look up Permits & read on that subject & good luck.

[wilbmeister]

I didn't realize it was so hard to get a permit in the eastern part of the state. Back here in Chautauqua Co it was fairly easy. Had to take a 4 hour class and apply. It took 4 to 6 weeks and then I had my permit. I should say that this is an unrestricted CC permit. The one good thing about NY is that one can carry just about anywhere.

[tommy3rd]

I didn't realize it was so hard to get a permit in the eastern part of the state.

not the whole eastern part. just Maryland, New Jersey, New York (City), Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and DC.
If you have a valid CCW from another state, you can get a non-res one from Connecticut.