Getting a pistol license in NY state.

So I grew up in MA, and as anyone who’s spent time in that state knows, you have to have a Firearms license just to buy pepper spray, and, though I’ve never looked at the process closely, I understand that getting THAT license is nothing in comparison to getting a license to purchase and carry a handgun.  I have to admit that when I was living there I never really thought about it.  Which I suppose is what happens when you grow up that way.

I moved to Syracuse NY in January of 2004, and even if it had occurred to me to try to get a pistol permit the company that moved me to the area didn’t allow firearms on their property so I’d likely not have bothered even I had thought about it.  It wasn’t till over a year later, after I’d changed jobs, and was now having to walk to my car at almost midnight in a deserted parking lot that I decided I really needed SOMETHING.  So I trundled down to the local police station to find out what NY required of its citizens to purchase pepper spray.  The officer behind the desk looked at me like I’d grown horns and told me to just go buy pepper spray.

I did a little bit of research at that point at what was required to get a pistol permit in the Syracuse area (since every county has slightly different takes on things), but the cost was prohibitive, especially at my income of the time, and besides, not only was my job not gun friendly, neither was my apartment building.

Last September I not only moved out of the apartment, but out of the county, when we bought the house, but it wasn’t till a couple months ago, during an emailed conversation with another blogger, did it occur to me that I’d never checked the requirements to get a pistol permit in my NEW county of residence.

Damn, the difference a 25 minute commute makes.

Just to pick up the application in Onondaga County (the Syracuse area) is $55.75.  In my new county of residence…..$3.

The DCJS/FBI fingerprinting fee is the same $94.25, so I can safely assume that’s set by either the state or the FBI.

Onondaga also requires you bring with you to your appointment a check/cash/credit card in the amount of $150 (which I cannot find any information stating what specifically it’s for), my new county tells me there’s an additional fingerprinting fee of $20, and if your permit is approved you’ll need to pay another $15.

So, in Onondaga county its going to cost me $300 (plus the cost of the handgun course) to apply for the pistol permit.  My new county of residence it’ll cost me $132.25 (plus the cost of the handgun course, I assume, though there is no requirement for a handgun course listed in the paperwork I’m looking at??).

So I spent $3 today.  I’m now sitting here trying to figure out what four people I can come up with, who aren’t related to me by blood or marriage, who know me reasonably well, who are likely to be willing to put their names down as character references.  This may be the hardest part of the process, since I didn’t grow up here, and am NOT a social butterfly.  Especially since they’re SUPPOSED to be residents of my county of residence, and if they aren’t I have to apply for an exemption from THAT rule before I can even turn in the application.