New York does not have one license price. Penal Law 400.00(14) is the fee provision, and it does two different things: it fixes a short list of small...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
New York does not have one license price. Penal Law 400.00(14) is the fee provision, and it does two different things: it fixes a short list of small dollar amounts for the rest of the state, and it hands the main license fee to local government in New York City and the counties of Nassau and Westchester. On top of that fee comes a firearms safety course priced by the instructor, and the recurring cost after issuance turns on whether the license expires and must be renewed or runs until revoked and must be recertified.
Subdivision 14 provides that "Elsewhere in the state, the licensing officer shall collect and pay into the county treasury the following fees":
Two more amounts follow in freestanding sentences of the same subdivision: "The fee for a duplicate license shall be five dollars" and "The fee for processing a license transfer between counties shall be five dollars." Penal Law 400.00(10)(a) supplies the filing the duplicate fee attaches to: on satisfactory proof that a currently valid original license has been "despoiled, lost or otherwise removed from the possession of the licensee" and on an application containing an additional photograph of the licensee, "the licensing officer shall issue a duplicate license."
Read that band carefully. The three to ten dollar figure is the license fee the licensing officer pays into the county treasury, not a cap on what applying costs. Those are the amounts subdivision 14 itself names for the rest of the state. Any other charge a county collects comes from somewhere other than this subdivision, so ask the issuing office what it actually bills. Note also that Suffolk appears in subdivision 14 only for the five dollar amendment fee. Its license fee sits in the "Elsewhere in the state" clause, not in the local fee-setting clause below.
For three jurisdictions, subdivision 14 fixes the gunsmith and dealer amounts and hands the pistol and revolver license fee to local government: "In the city of New York and the counties of Nassau and Westchester, the annual license fee shall be twenty-five dollars for gunsmiths and fifty dollars for dealers in firearms. In such city, the city council and in the counties of Nassau and Westchester the legislative body of such county shall fix the fee to be charged for a license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver or to purchase or take possession of a semiautomatic rifle and provide for the disposition of such fees."
So in New York City, Nassau County, and Westchester County the pistol and revolver license fee is whatever local law sets. The three to ten dollar band does not reach those licenses there, and subdivision 14 supplies no figure to put in its place.
New York City publishes its own schedule, and the amounts come from the city's law and rules rather than from the Penal Law. New York City Administrative Code 10-131(a)(2) provides that "Every license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver in the city may be issued for a term of no less than one or more than three years," and that every applicant "shall pay therefor, a fee of three hundred forty dollars for each original or renewal application for a three year license period or part thereof, a fee of ten dollars for each replacement application of a lost license." Section 10-131(a)(3) sets three hundred forty dollars for a special permit validating a license issued outside the city, three hundred forty dollars for each renewal of it, and ten dollars to replace a lost one. Section 10-131(a)(6) is the city counterpart to the county treasury rule elsewhere in the state: those fees "shall be collected by the police commissioner, and shall be paid into the general fund of the city established pursuant to section one hundred nine of the charter".
The NYPD License Division page states the same application figure and adds the print charge: "The application fee is $340.00" and "The fee for fingerprints is $89.75." Those may be paid by credit card or by two separate money orders made payable to the New York City Police Department, and all fees are non-refundable. That $89.75 is the New York City fingerprint fee as the NYPD publishes it. Do not carry that number to another county.
Title 38 of the Rules of the City of New York adds the mechanics and two smaller amounts. Under 38 RCNY 5-05(b), required fees at application are "payable to the New York City Police Department and the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services," the DCJS fee "applies to all applicants" and is paid separately, and fingerprint fee waivers go to applicants whose prints are already on file with the License Division. Under 38 RCNY 5-31, replacing a lost license or one that was altered, laminated, or mutilated requires "a ten ($10) dollar money order or certified check" payable to the N.Y.C. Police Department. A license reported stolen is replaced under 5-31(a)(2) with no money order at all, on a complaint report number, two color photos, and personal identification. A licensee who moves out of the city may ask that their records be transferred to the new licensing jurisdiction, and under 38 RCNY 5-32(a) the request is made in writing by the new licensing agency and accompanied by "a five ($5.00) dollar money order" payable to the N.Y.C. Police Department.
Outside New York City, Nassau, and Westchester, the amount inside the three to ten dollar band is a county decision. In Nassau and Westchester the county legislative body fixes the fee with no statutory band at all. Either way the issuing office is the only reliable source for the number. Penal Law 265.00(10) identifies that office: elsewhere in the state, "a judge or justice of a court of record having his office in the county of issuance," and in New York City, Nassau, and Suffolk a named police commissioner or sheriff. Penal Law 400.00(3)(a) sends the application to the licensing officer where the applicant "resides, is principally employed or has his or her principal place of business as merchant or storekeeper". Ask that office for a current schedule before you pay anything: what it collects under Penal Law 400.00(14), what the print charge is and who collects it, and whether it adds any charge of its own.
Penal Law 400.00(10)(a) sets the terms. Gunsmith and dealer licenses and, in the city of New York, any license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver expire "not more than three years after the date of issuance," except as paragraph (d) provides. In the counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester, a license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver expires "not more than five years after the date of issuance." Elsewhere than New York City and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester, the license "shall be in force and effect until revoked."
Paragraph (d) overrides those base terms for carry licenses: licenses issued under Penal Law 400.00(2)(f) "shall be recertified or renewed every three years following the issuance of such license." Paragraph (b) sets the general cycle, that "All licensees shall be recertified to the division of state police every five years thereafter, except as otherwise provided in paragraph (d)," and warns that "Failure to recertify shall act as a revocation of such license."
New York State Police and DCJS guidance states the practical split: "A pistol or revolver license issued by New York City or Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk counties expires and needs to be renewed every 3 years. A pistol or revolver license issued outside of those areas does not expire, but the license holder must recertify with the New York State Police every 3 years for a concealed carry license and every 5 years for other types of licenses." The state's pistol permit recertification page adds that permit holders in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, or Westchester do not recertify with State Police and follow their county's requirements instead.
The money follows that split. On recertification, the state's recertification guidance answers directly: "No, there are no fees associated with recertification; however, existing county fees associated with new applications and amendments still apply." A renewal is not free in the same way. In New York City it is a renewal application at the three hundred forty dollar figure in Administrative Code 10-131(a)(2), and 38 RCNY 5-28 states that "The licensee is required to renew their handgun license every three (3) years. The license expires on the licensee's birthday," with renewal fees payable online or by money order or certified check.
Two provisions guard against a lapse and the cost of starting over. Penal Law 400.00(10)(a) keeps a license "in full force and effect for thirty days beyond the stated expiration date," and an application to renew a license that has not expired, been revoked, or been cancelled "shall thereby extend the term of the license until disposition of the application by the licensing officer."
One related penalty carries a number. Under Penal Law 400.00(10)(c), a license to purchase or take possession of a semiautomatic rifle is recertified to the applicable licensing officer every five years, and "Failure to renew such a license shall be a violation punishable by a fine not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars".
Penal Law 400.00(19) requires, before issuance or renewal of a license under paragraph (f) of subdivision two, an in-person live firearms safety course taught by a duly authorized instructor with curriculum approved by the Division of Criminal Justice Services and the Superintendent of State Police. It sets "a minimum of sixteen hours of in-person live curriculum" and "a minimum of two hours of a live-fire range training course," and requires "a minimum of eighty percent correct answers" on the written test plus the live-fire proficiency level fixed by DCJS and State Police rules.
The state does not set what that course costs. State guidance answers the question plainly: the course is provided by authorized instructors in accordance with the published State Police and DCJS training standards, and "Training costs and locations will be set by the instructor." Compare total price, schedule, and live-fire arrangements across DCJS-approved instructors in your area, and confirm with your licensing officer that the certificate you will receive is the one that office accepts.
Training also recurs unevenly, which changes the multi-year cost. State guidance states that individuals renewing a license in New York City or Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk counties must complete the training, and that the course "is not required to recertify your concealed carry license with the State Police." Licensing officers have discretion to decide whether a course completed in the previous five years satisfies part or all of the requirement.
Westchester County applicants face a second certificate. Penal Law 400.00(1)(l) conditions eligibility in that county on having "successfully completed a firearms safety course and test," and Penal Law 400.00(4-c) directs the licensing officer there to require that certificate before the license issues.
Penal Law 400.00(3)(a) requires each individual signing an application to submit one photograph plus a duplicate for each required copy, taken within thirty days before filing. Penal Law 400.00(9) lets a licensee outside New York City apply at any time to amend a license to add or cancel weapons, which is the filing that subdivision 14's three dollar amendment fee attaches to elsewhere in the state, or five dollars in Suffolk County.
If you later buy or receive a firearm in a private sale, General Business Law 898(4) provides that "A dealer may require that any sale or transfer conducted pursuant to this section be subject to a fee of not to exceed ten dollars per transaction" for running the required background check. Ammunition, range time, a safe or lockbox, and a holster are priced by retailers and ranges, and none of them appear in the statutory fee schedule.
Penal Law 400.00(14) waives one specific charge statewide. The fee for processing a license or renewal is waived "in all counties throughout the state" for a qualified retired police officer under Criminal Procedure Law 1.20(34), a qualified retired sheriff, undersheriff, or deputy sheriff of the city of New York under CPL 2.10(2), a qualified retired Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority officer, sergeant, or lieutenant under CPL 2.10(20), a qualified retired uniformed court officer in the unified court system and a qualified retired court clerk in that system in the first and second judicial departments under CPL 2.10(21)(a) and (b), and a retired correction officer under CPL 2.10(25). By its terms the waiver reaches the fee for processing the license or its renewal. It does not speak to fingerprinting, photographs, or the course, so confirm those with the issuing office.
New York City Administrative Code 10-131(a)(7) provides the parallel waiver for city licenses, and 10-131(a)(5) provides that no fee is charged for a license to have and carry concealed issued on the application of the commissioner of correction or the warden or superintendent of a prison, penitentiary, workhouse, or other detention institution in the city. Where a fee is charged in the city, 10-131(a)(4) provides that it "shall not be refunded in the event that an original or renewal application, or a special validation permit application, is denied by the police commissioner."
This page covers one part of our New York concealed carry guide.
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