ORANGE COUNTY ENDS REQUIREMENT TO BUY A HANDGUN BEFORE YOU GET YOUR HANDGUN LICENSE

Posted on 03/07/2016 by OCShooters

MEDIA RELEASE March 4, 2016, TO: Media Outlets; FROM: Captain Scott K. Hamill, Public Information Officer, DATE: March 4, 2016

Sheriff Carl E. DuBois and County Clerk Annie Rabbitt, in conjunction with the pistol permit licensing authority for Orange County, are pleased to announce a change to requirements for gun permit applicants. The purchase of a handgun prior to submitting an application for a gun permit is no longer required, effective immediately.

Formerly, an applicant for a handgun permit was required to tentatively purchase a handgun and then wait for the pistol permit process to conclude before taking possession. Most merchants required the applicants to make substantial down payments and some charged holding fees if the process was not timely for the handguns that were to be purchased. Some applicants, if they were denied a pistol permit, received only store credit instead of a full refund. Finally, merchants were dealing with substantial on-hand stock being held with partial payment for extended periods of time that would otherwise be available for sale.

Sheriff DuBois commented, “This is a common sense approach to the gun permit process. An applicant receives approval for a gun permit and then goes to a merchant to purchase one. I continue to support the right of law abiding citizens to obtain gun permits and I strongly encourage all such gun permit holders to become proficient with the handgun they select by seeking appropriate training.” The Sheriff’s Office launched a training program for gun permit applicants and gun permit holders in 2014.

County Clerk Annie Rabbitt commented, “Since taking Office I have worked hard to make it easier for law abiding citizens to obtain gun permits. Working with the Sheriff’s Office and the Judges, we are taking another step to make it a more simple process.”

UPDATE INFO

  If you turn in your application without a receipt for a handgun, you will have to wait for the whole process to complete and after you pick up your license, then you will fill in an AMENDMENT to add guns onto your license at a cost of $5 per gun. The amendment process takes 4 to 6 weeks at this point. Also, at this point because I don’t think anyone thought of if yet, Orange County has no requirement that you ever add a gun to your license. Some counties give you 6 months to add a gun to a license however NY law does not require that you have any guns on your license. I don’t support the idea that you must get permission from the government to own a handgun much less NY State’s law that requires a permit just to touch a handgun therefore I don’t see anything wrong, even legally with having a license with no gun on it.

MY COMMENT

  • Finally after all of these years. The requirement that you put a deposit on a handgun before they would give you a license has always been a complaint that most pistol applicants have had. There is no legal requirement that you have a handgun to put on your license and many counties don’t require it. Some counties let you add the handgun to your license when you go to pick up your license. It does save you $5 per gun if you have the gun(s) on your initial license. If you add a gun using an AMENDMENT it cost you $5 per gun.

  • Now if they would next drop the requirement that people who co-registering handguns on an initial license notarized the permission letter from the handgun owner.  I don’t mind the letter but it is stupid to think that someone would forge a document to have handguns added to their handgun license because if the forger was in possession of the guns that they forged the document to have added to their license, the forger would be in possession of stolen guns.  Look at it this way; let’s say you get a copy of my handgun license and forge a document saying that I have given you permission to have two of my handguns on your license.  At some point you steal the guns from me.  When I discover that the guns are missing I report them stolen.  The police do a check and discover that you have my handguns on your license.  The police call me up and ask if I know if you have my handguns.  I say that I never gave you permission to have my handguns.  The police then arrest you for forgery, submitting false documents, possession of stolen property, …    It is not a requirement that the letter be notarized AFTER you get your license.

  • The Sheriff’s Department could also stop wasting time going to every applicant’s house to see if they live there.  I can’t think of a more ridiculous waste of time.  I can see it for someone who just moved to Orange County two months ago but they are the police and can check and see the address on your driver’s license, your insurance, they can look up on the Orange County website where everyone who owns a home lives and how long they have lived there, they can also get a copy of the list of everyone who votes and see that that matches.  Only in rare instances can I see them justifying spending the time to visit your house.  If they don’t match up then I can see them asking questions.

  • FOOTNOTE:  I was the person years ago who got the Sheriff’s Department to change from mailing out all of the reference questionnaires and instead have the applicant provide them.  On that note the reference questionnaire letters are a made up requirement and serve no purpose other than more paperwork.  NY law only requires that your references sign the application.  That is where they are signing on your “good moral character.”
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