New York requires a license to possess or carry a handgun, and that license works as an exemption from a criminal prohibition, not as an endorsement on...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
New York requires a license to possess or carry a handgun, and that license works as an exemption from a criminal prohibition, not as an endorsement on an otherwise lawful act. Penal Law article 265 criminalizes possession of a firearm, Penal Law 400.00 sets out who may be licensed and by whom, and Penal Law 265.20(a)(3) lifts the article 265 offenses for "Possession of a pistol or revolver by a person to whom a license therefor has been issued as provided under section 400.00 or 400.01 of this chapter". Those three pieces together are what a New York license actually lets a person do, and where it stops. "Firearm" is itself a defined term: Penal Law 265.00(3) covers "any pistol or revolver", short-barreled rifles and shotguns, assault weapons and certain other weapons, and excludes antique firearms, so ordinary long guns follow different rules.
The current framework dates to 2022. In New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022), the Supreme Court held that New York's prior "proper cause" showing violated the Second Amendment. The Legislature responded with the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, and as the Second Circuit recounted in Christian v. James, 176 F.4th 189 (2d Cir. 2026), "The provisions became effective on September 1, 2022." The CCIA dropped proper cause and added the eligibility, training, interview and location rules described below, all of which remain in force except where a court has ordered otherwise.
Four possession offenses set the stakes for carrying without a valid license or outside its terms. Penal Law 265.20(a) names the sections it switches off, including all four, and its paragraph 3 supplies the licensee exemption quoted above.
New York does not have one licensing agency. Penal Law 265.00(10) defines "Licensing officer" to mean "in the city of New York the police commissioner of that city; in the county of Nassau the commissioner of police of that county; in the county of Suffolk the sheriff of that county except in the towns of Babylon, Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip and Smithtown, the commissioner of police of that county; for the purposes of section 400.01 of this chapter the superintendent of state police; and elsewhere in the state a judge or justice of a court of record having his office in the county of issuance." Outside New York City, Nassau and Suffolk, and apart from section 400.01 licenses for retired state police, the decision maker is a judge rather than a police agency. Penal Law 400.00(3)(a) sends the application to the licensing officer "in the city or county, as the case may be, where the applicant resides, is principally employed or has his or her principal place of business as merchant or storekeeper".
New York City is the structural trap here. Penal Law 400.00(6) makes a license "effective throughout the state, except that the same shall not be valid within the city of New York unless a special permit granting validity is issued by the police commissioner of that city", subject to narrow provisos for locked-container transport and certain officers. The NYPD License Division states that "Subject to limited exceptions, possession of a handgun or rifle/shotgun in New York City requires a license (for handguns) or a permit (for rifles/shotguns) issued by the NYPD License Division", so a long gun in the city takes a separate permit. City rules stack on top of the Penal Law: 38 RCNY chapter 5 defines the city license types, including the Special Carry License at 5-01(d)(1) for holders of a valid New York State county carry license, and 38 RCNY 5-03(a) requires a carry applicant to "meet in person with a licensing officer in the License Division for an interview". 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."
Local stringency is authorized elsewhere too. Penal Law 400.30 provides that nothing in article 400 impairs "the enactment or application of any local law, code, ordinance, rule or regulation that is more restrictive than any requirement set forth in or established by this article", and Penal Law 265.45(3) and 265.46 each preserve "any special or local act relating to the safe storage of rifles, shotguns or firearms which impose additional requirements".
Penal Law 400.00(2) lists the license types. A premises license issues to "have and possess in his dwelling by a householder" under paragraph (a) or "have and possess in his place of business by a merchant or storekeeper" under paragraph (b). The carry license issues under paragraph (f) to "have and carry concealed, without regard to employment or place of possession subject to the restrictions of state and federal law, by any person". Every carry license in section 400.00 is a license to carry concealed, except the antique pistol license under paragraph (g). In Frey v. City of New York, No. 23-365-cv (2d Cir. Sept. 19, 2025), the Second Circuit wrote that "New York criminalizes, and thereby effectively bans, the open carrying of firearms in public", pointing to Penal Law 400.00(15).
Penal Law 400.00(1) requires an applicant twenty-one or older, with an exception for honorably discharged service members, and "of good moral character, which, for the purposes of this article, shall mean having the essential character, temperament and judgement necessary to be entrusted with a weapon and to use it only in a manner that does not endanger oneself or others". Paragraphs (c) through (n) add further disqualifiers, among them felony and serious offense convictions, fugitive status, controlled substance use, immigration status, dishonorable discharge, renounced citizenship, mental hygiene commitments and reports, guardianship, and firearm surrender orders. For a carry license, paragraph (o) requires that the applicant "shall meet in person with the licensing officer for an interview" and submit cohabitant information, "names and contact information of no less than four character references", and certification of the training required by subdivision 19. That training is "a minimum of sixteen hours of in-person live curriculum" plus "a minimum of two hours of a live-fire range training course", with a written test scored at "a minimum of eighty percent correct answers".
Penal Law 400.00(8) requires that "Every licensee while carrying a pistol or revolver shall have on his or her person a license to carry the same." Penal Law 400.00(15) grades any violation of section 400.00 as a class A misdemeanor. The licensee exemption has limits. Penal Law 265.20(a) switches off only the offenses it lists by number, and sections 265.01-d and 265.01-e are not on that list. Penal Law 400.00(18)(a) requires the licensing officer to notify every licensee at issuance that "a conviction under sections 265.01-d and 265.01-e of this chapter are felonies for which licensure will be revoked".
Penal Law 265.01-e makes it an offense to possess a firearm, rifle or shotgun "in or upon a sensitive location," where the person "knows or reasonably should know such location is a sensitive location." Subdivision 2 lists twenty categories, (a) through (t), running from government buildings and courts through health care locations, places of worship, libraries, playgrounds, parks and zoos, schools and colleges, shelters, public transportation and its facilities, premises licensed for on-premises alcohol or cannabis consumption, entertainment and sporting venues, polling places, permitted public events, protests, and Times Square. Subdivision 3 exempts fifteen categories, (a) through (o), among them qualified law enforcement officers under 18 U.S.C. 926B and qualified retired officers under 18 U.S.C. 926C, police and peace officers, registered armed security guards at their post, active duty military personnel, and hunters and target shooters. The offense is a class E felony.
Penal Law 265.01-d, criminal possession of a weapon in a restricted location, reaches a person who possesses a firearm, rifle or shotgun and enters or remains on private property "where such person knows or reasonably should know that the owner or lessee of such property has not permitted such possession by clear and conspicuous signage indicating that the carrying of firearms, rifles, or shotguns on their property is permitted or by otherwise giving express consent." It is a class E felony, with eight exemptions in subdivision 2 that track the sensitive location list.
On October 10, 2024 the United States District Court for the Western District of New York ordered that the defendants are "permanently enjoined, effectively immediately, from enforcing" Penal Law 265.01-d "with respect to private property open to the public", and the Second Circuit affirmed that injunction on May 18, 2026 in Christian v. James. The State Police put it this way on the state gun safety site: "Due to a court ruling NYSP is not currently enforcing this provision with respect to possession of a firearm, rifle, or shotgun upon private property that is held open to the public." The statute has not been repealed, and it continues to apply to private property that is not held open to the public.
The same appeal went the other way on public parks. The Second Circuit affirmed judgment for the State on the public parks provision, Penal Law 265.01-e(2)(d), concluding it "survives Plaintiffs' facial challenge". In a joint status letter filed August 14, 2026, the plaintiffs said they "anticipate petitioning for certiorari regarding the ban on carrying in public parks before the deadline of September 16, 2026." Separately, in Antonyuk v. James, No. 22 Civ. 986 (N.D.N.Y.), a stipulation filed March 30, 2026 records that the State defendants consented to an injunction barring enforcement of Penal Law 400.00(1)(o)(iv), the social media disclosure item, "against any Plaintiff", and that "The Superintendent shall ensure that the PPB-3 license application form does not include language requiring social media information." That paragraph remains in the statute, and the stipulation states the injunction terminates if the Legislature repeals it. The same stipulation records that challenges to 265.01-d and to several enumerated sensitive locations continue. These dates are close at hand, so confirm current status with gunsafety.ny.gov or your licensing officer.
Timing rules turn on where the license was issued. Under Penal Law 400.00(10)(a), a New York City license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver expires "not more than three years after the date of issuance", a license issued in Nassau, Suffolk or Westchester expires "not more than five years after the date of issuance", and a license issued elsewhere "shall be in force and effect until revoked". Under Penal Law 400.00(10)(b), licensees "shall be recertified to the division of state police every five years", and "Failure to recertify shall act as a revocation of such license." Penal Law 400.00(10)(d) then overrides both for carry licenses issued under 400.00(2)(f), which "shall be recertified or renewed every three years following the issuance of such license." The State Police state the same split: concealed carry permit holders "are required to recertify their permit with the New York State Police every three years", premises permit holders "will continue to recertify with the State Police every five years", and holders of a permit issued in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk or Westchester "do not recertify with State Police."
Storage duties run separately from carry authority. Failure to safely store rifles, shotguns, and firearms in the first degree, Penal Law 265.45, is a class A misdemeanor, and its subdivision 2 governs firearms left in a vehicle. The second degree offense, Penal Law 265.46, is a violation punishable only by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty dollars. Article 63-A of the Civil Practice Law and Rules, sections 6340 through 6348, creates the extreme risk protection order, defined at CPLR 6340(1) as "a court-issued order of protection prohibiting a person from purchasing, possessing or attempting to purchase or possess a firearm, rifle or shotgun." Use of force is governed by Penal Law article 35, with the defense of a person rule at 35.15 and the dwelling exception to the retreat requirement at 35.15(2)(a)(i).
The pages that follow take each topic down to the statute: permit basics and the application process, training, fees, renewal and recertification, the full location analysis, out of state licenses, transport and vehicle carry, storage, use of force, extreme risk protection orders, and preemption. This overview is general information, not legal advice. For the current official position, use gunsafety.ny.gov and your county or city licensing officer, or the NYPD License Division for New York City.
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