Need another reason to vote with your feet, New Yorkers? Thanks to personnel cutbacks in a near-bankrupt state, if you live in Onondaga County (which includes Syracuse) and want a permit to buy one of the few handguns still legal in the Empire State, you’ll need to plan ahead a little. A lot, actually. nycentral.com reports that “The process used to take two to six months, but (Sheriff Kevin) Walsh says he was forced to cut back on the number of people who process pistol permits in Onondaga County. There used to be three people in the licensing unit, now there is just one” That means . . .
Anyone strolling into the sheriff’s office wanting the government’s OK to buy a handgun is now told to come back next March. And maybe then the six month process of approval can get started.
According to New York State law, obtaining a pistol permit requires a criminal background check, character references, a hand gun safety course and other requirements.
Fortunately, we hear they don’t put you through the CAT scan and prostate exam unless you’ve successfully jumped all the other hurdles first. The delay isn’t confined to just one county, either.
The problem has spread beyond Onondaga County. The Cortland County Clerks Office reports a wait time of about 10 months, while Madison County reports a wait time of about a year.
So far. But never fear, New Yorkers. The situation is about to about to improve.
Sheriff Walsh says he recently got permission to install a new computer program which he says will streamline the process.
Whew! We hear WordStar and Lotus 1-2-3 can be huge timesavers.
The more onerous NY makes it to purchase a gun, the more likely it is that NY laws and regs are going to get undone by the courts. Cuomo and Bloomberg are overplaying their hand.
My thoughts exactly
Unconstitutional?? If 0bama gets his way and loads up the courts with liberal judges, you might be in for a surprise. Do you have any doubt that a Supreme Court of Ruth Ginsburg, Steven Breyer, Elana Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor + one more left winger won’t find some emanations and penumbras that would say it’s perfectly constitutional to make someone wait a year for a permit??
Commerce clause! Welfare clause! Public safety!
Imagine the howls of outrage from liberals if there was an arbitrary 18-month wait to exercise one of the rights that they cherish; say, to get an abortion.
Now that’s funny. Doesn’t matter what side of the issue you’re on either. Really illustrates how a right delayed is a right denied.
Martin Luther King Jr. said that, and I find it just as truthful as the Marbury v. Madison “the power to tax is the power to destroy.”
Well said! Lets see how many pregnant ladies support a 10-18 month wait for an abortion.
Here’s an idea – unless NY has somehow made this illegal as well – why don’t folks from some local shooting club or RKBA organization volunteer to help the Sheriff process the permit apps at no charge?
You mean work for the state? For free?
Just remember you can only use a a .38 revolver because they banned everything else. Make your six shots count!!!
Come on; there are much more efficient revolvers out there that survive the cartridge-count limit. .44, Casull, .50BMG, etc.
Not much fun to practice with, but very efficient at getting your point across.
50 bmg revlover? I know you meant 500 S&W, but the 50 bmg revolver would crack your skull
I want to see the .50 BMG revolver!
Don’t forget to tell the New Yorkers that decide to move that the wait for NFA items like suppressors and machine guns is only 6 months!
Sorry, but since people have a right to have a handgun in their homes, a wait of 18 months to be able to exercise said right is unconstitutional. Cf. Kuck v. Danaher, 600 F. 3d 159 (2nd Cir. 2010).
Interesting reading, that case. Especially since the plaintiff was not only a permit renewal applicant, but the Secretary of the Board of Firearms Permit Examiners, who he accused of acting in collusion with the CT Dept of Public Safety.
Who the hell needs a gun in the next 18 months? You PARANOIDS!!
I figured out, on this day, how to get more media attention for gun rallys. You are each and every one urged to join GAY ABORTIONISTS FOR GUN RIGHTS. JOIN TODAY!!!
This is similar to a story on reason.com (which I cannot find) where the author had applied for one of these permits and after a few months, he gave up, emailed a buddy of a buddy and for $300 had an AK47 in a week. The point of the story was 1) why bother and 2) it’s easy to get what you want when you know who to ask.
It’s a similar process here in the Midwest’s Progressive Utopia (TM), but so few bother to go through the process there’s not much coverage of it.
Also, should I be offended that my Captcha is “Christ”? 🙂
Illustrating Chicagoland Idiocy, Mayhem and Stupidity at heyjackass.com
There should at the minimum be a due process requirement before denying a fundamental right.
There should be, as in some other states, a maximum wait time after which a permit is automatically issued. But that won’t happen. Not there.
Legally, there is such a stipulation! They only have 6 months to process an application.
But they ignore it, just like all parts of laws they don’t like. What they do is they won’t allow you to pick up and fill out an application until you’ve been on a waiting list for months already. That means they’re not technically ‘processing’ the application according to their rules and can take as much time as they want until they get it…
Amazing.
Since they’ve denied it’s a fundamental right, what’s the necessity for due process? You see how this works, right?
Cutbacks, bull. This is all part of the plan to keep subjects disarmed.
We should start making a list of which foreign countries are more American than New York.
Yep… I met a guy at a local range who was visiting from Westchester County. He told me exactly that…. 18 months to get his permit to buy a gun. The local gun shops won’t even let anyone TOUCH a gun without the permit. Literally… they cannot handle any gun in the store without first producing the permit. He also had to get FOUR letters of (character) reference to get his permit.
That’s just ****ing crazy!
He was definitely a Jersey guy. That insanity sounds like exactly what i go through.
I live in Westchester… wait times definitely increased. I started the process in Jan, 2010 and had the permit in May, 2010.
Remember we have gun registration, so each time we buy a gun we first purchase it, then we fill out an “amendment” form while we wait for it to be added to our permit. Process can take weeks or many months. Guy at my local range bought two pistols – a .22 and a Glock of some sort back around Thanksgiving, and JUST NOW got his amendmended permit.
See: http://reason.com/archives/2012/12/22/gun-restrictions-have-always-bred-defian
The free market is closer than you think, beleaguered New Yorker friends.
“Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law,’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual.” – Thomas Jefferson
Yes, that’s the link I couldn’t find before. Excellent story.
In addition to this, we should not divert legal attention from the “instant” background checks that have become de facto waiting periods.
In Colorado last month, FFL’s I know personally were telling me that they were waiting eight days or more to receive word back from their state “instant” background check system.
We’re at about three weeks for EBRs and handguns in Maryland. I bought a VEPR at the beginning of February, and I don’t expect to see that thing until March if I’m lucky. I’ve also got a stamp for a Galil coming in soon, and it’ll be suck in a similar hell.
I just asked my local CO gun club how long the CBI checks are taking; STILL 8 days. I know there was a surge right after SH in December but come on….I’m beginning to smell a Demorat.
I just waited 7 days in CO. Submitted to the state at my LGS at 14:00 23 Jan and I was able to pick up at 10:00 30 Jan. On 23 Jan, the projected wait time was 6 days, 19 hours. I waited an extra hour – only because the LGS didn’t open until 10:00.
Guess NY libtards dont care about a womans right to protect herself from being raped and killed. Do you think the rapist/murderer will wait 18months before commmencing to rape/murder so the woman can have time to defend herself?
The sheriff needs to pull deputies off the drug task forces and speed traps and put them to work doing these permits.
Sunday I bought a handgun with a wait of 10 minutes. Monday I bought a shotgun with a wait of 2 minutes. Thank God I live in a free state.
So what happens when they do another cutback and fire the only guy processing the pistol permits? It’s common to argue rights should be infringed “for the greater good”, which is what this is, well, why don’t they just reestablish those rights for a period because it’s for the greater good, you know, accept those applications and then they can check them at their leisure. Oh wait, I forgot in New York the ability for the citizenry to defend themselves isn’t “for the greater good”.
Because having a crime is better than stopping one right?
NY is really stepping in it, if someone files a lawsuit over this they will win even if it takes a journey all the way to the SCOTUS. NY between this and the “Safe” act is about to ruin it for all the anti gun states. Can’t wait until the “Safe” act goes to the SCOTUS and all the unconstitutional mag limits and other restrictions get thrown right out.
Though it is awful living under these repressive laws, it is my sincere hope that we in NY can provide the straw that breaks the anti rights tyranny that IS gun control for the whole nation. You need cases to carry the weight, we have them now! Help us help you! We are all in this together.
Irony: Guys with names like Sullivan pushed gun control so that guys with names like Cuomo couldn’t legally defend themselves.
Good luck, I’m cheering you on from Wisconsin, Randy
I live and work in Oswego county…next county over. not too bad here. the Sheriff has a team in the civil division doing pistol permit applications during the day, and has relinquished the duties to corrections staff on certain week nights and saturdays. Turn around is still about 3 months, which is not bad considering what is happening a few miles away.
“Turn around is still about 3 months, which is not bad considering what is happening a few miles away.”
The sad thing is, that’s probably right. Three months is actually “pretty good” there, as disgusting as that is.
It’s “not bad”, until you look at [relatively] free America. Last year, it took me 14 days to get my permit.
Then again, that permit is to carry a concealed firearm in all areas of the state, not just to buy one.
My VA Permit took 8 days.
Sheriff Walsh, like most, if not all Sheriff’s in this area of CENTRAL NEW YORK (not new york city, which might as well be an entirely different state) are very pro Second Amendment. It is usually the county legislatures that regulate his budget, and have to approve hiring for positions, whether they be new, or a result of attrition, that are the problem. Not the Sheriff himself. The Sheriff is an elected figure head, and therefore a puppet of the county legislation.
He just has that smirk on his face in that picture…………..
We don’t smile up here…that is all we can muster…
I’m still trying to figure out why it takes so long to perform those simple tasks. A background check should take all of 4 seconds and the rest is up to the applicant.
Actually, there are a few tasks that need to be performed…investigators actually contact your 4 character references. The process does not proceed until all 4 have been contacted and can vouch that you are not a violent sociopath. Then they contact your current employer (if any) to verify you are not a disgruntled nutcase. Then, they await the mental health affidavit that you had to send to Albany (IIRC) to be mailed back to the county from Albany. Then it all goes off to the judge who is in charge of signing the permits and issuing restrictions (in NY… you can only carry concealed while hunting, or carry to and from a shooting range, unless granted an unrestricted carry license, which is hard, depending on the 2nd Amendment views of the signing judge)…and then…Viola…you have your permit…once the clerk gets around to calling you when he/she is not looking up property tax info or other public knowledge records available at the county clerks office
This is how government creates de-facto bans.
We should never agree to any “restrictions” because government can at best be unable to process or at worst abuse processes and stop firearm sales, possession, and ownership.
I live in Saratoga county. The process is 12+ months here. That’s me being generous with the estimate.
So… yeah… no. My family and I are moving to Vermont.
¨Great¨ how constitutional rights can be dismounted – by people who should protect them and have sworn to protect them…
Remember:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the CONSTITUTION of the United States.”[60]
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this CONSTITUTION;¨.. .
¨I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the CONSTITUTION of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; …¨
¨I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the CONSTITUTION of the State of New York, (and the Charter of the City of NEW YORK, e.g.), and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of (mayor of the City of New York, e.g.) to the best of my ability..
Etc. etc.
Can’t you just say you are a member of TTAG, or won’t that cut it with coma? Randy
Wow…I now feel even better about living in Pennsylvania! Gotta get to the range this weekend and have some good, clean fun with my AUG, a legally concealed SIG and AKs. Stay strong New Yorkers!
I stil lwould like to know how they can mandate that you have to apply to exercise your rights? Last time I checked, the majority of proposed legislation asking that voters submit a state issued identification got smacked down on consitutional grounds becuase it imposed “undue hardship” on economically disadvantaged folk, including minorities. Yet, in order to be able to buy a gun in several states, you have to “apply” for a “permit” to be able to do so, and pay several fees both during the application process, and in the renewal stages. Oh, and you STILL have to get the normal background check when you buy a gun, assuming you are “approved” to get the permit to do so. If you think too hard about how unconsitutional this is you may have a stroke.
why are people still calling it “The Empire State”? i started calling it simply “The Empire” long go.
There is absolutely no way that this can be constitutional. I mean seriously EIGHTEEN months?!?!?!
NY Is definitely ridiculous especially in Monroe county. I was a M240B machine gunner in the 82nd airborne division in Afghanistan and I purchased a Glock in north Carolina which only took me 2 weeks to get a permit. when I got out and came home I applied in new York and after waiting almost a year, they denied me because I did a senior prank in high school where I threw a small smoke bomb. they said since I’m being denied that I have to wait another year to even put in another application. that’s a three year turnaround and I’m still waiting even longer. I applied the first time in 2010. so it goes to show you that they will find any reason to delay and/or deny you a permit. God forbid you broke a crayon in kindergarten and there goes your pistol license. way to go New York.
Were you arrested? Charged? Convicted? Of what?
My cousin has been waiting over 12 months now. She lives In Monroe county in NY. No reply yet. Unbelievable
I live in Westchester county, NY. I took my gun safety class in January. Called and made my appt to submit my application in February. The first appointment was September 23rd. Seven months! Of course, I had to purchase a gun, without ever holding it, because that is required for the application. It is sitting with the FFL holder.
The application is a land mine of potential mistakes. 4 character references, all notarized, application in triplicate, black ink, must be signed by the same 4 references in addition to your own. Payment for 105 by money order only.
My appt is this week. After that, who knows how long it will take to get a response. Wish me luck.
Just received called to make an appointment for my gun gun application for Westchester County. It is now August 26 2020. They gave me an appointment for April 28, 2021. That is just for the permit application. Then the wait starts again.
I lived in Liverpool, Onondaga County for 17 years, 1980 thru 1997. My permit took 4 months to process. I called their office after 3 months had passed. The woman told me in no uncertain terms that they were allowed 4 months and they would take every bit of it. Four months to the day from my application I got it in the mail. There was a local judge, can’t recall his name, who was so incensed that we could actually get permits that he took over the approval process. He demanded that the applicant appear before him in his court and justify the need. He stated flat out that his intent was to slow or stop the issuance of the permits. He was invited to a meeting with a local gun club for a discussion. As he left he turned to the guys and said, “Thanks for not shooting me.” He stepped down as judge shortly there after. Not sure where he is now but hopefully not in any position of authority.
I put mine in may can’t believe that I got to wait another 6 or 9 months can’t anything be done to speed up the hold up .
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