New York is a licensed-carry state. You cannot lawfully possess or carry a handgun without a pistol or revolver license issued under Penal Law 400.00,...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
New York is a licensed-carry state. You cannot lawfully possess or carry a handgun without a pistol or revolver license issued under Penal Law 400.00, and that license does not last forever. Depending on where it was issued, you either renew it (the license expires and you reapply) or recertify it (the license stays in force but you must periodically confirm your information with the New York State Police). Failing to keep a license current can turn lawful possession into a crime, so the dates matter.
New York handles continued validity two ways, depending on the issuing jurisdiction.
The official New York State guidance states the same split: licenses issued by New York City or Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk counties expire and must be renewed; licenses issued elsewhere do not expire but must be recertified with the State Police.
| License type | Cycle | Statutory basis |
|---|---|---|
| Concealed carry ("have and carry," Penal Law 400.00(2)(f)) | Every 3 years | Penal Law 400.00(10)(d) |
| Premises license ("have and possess," home or business) | Every 5 years recertification | Penal Law 400.00(10)(b) |
| Semiautomatic rifle license | Every 5 years, to the licensing officer | Penal Law 400.00(10)(c) |
The semiautomatic rifle license is the one cycle that does not run to the State Police. Penal Law 400.00(10)(c) provides that it "shall be recertified to the applicable licensing officer every five years following the issuance of such license," and that failure to renew it "shall be a violation punishable by a fine not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars," which the licensing officer must also weigh when reviewing that holder's future license applications.
Two points on the 3-year carry cycle:
The State Police confirm a recertification completes the requirement of "subsection 10(b) of section 400.00 of the penal law" and assign your next recertification date when you finish.
Recertification with the New York State Police is done online only; the State Police no longer accept paper forms from in-state residents (out-of-state residents who lack a New York State driver license or non-driver ID must use the paper form).
You will need your name, address, date of birth, New York State driver license or non-driver ID number, and an inventory of the pistols and revolvers covered by your license. Most of this is on your county-issued license. The recertification form requires you to affirm that you are not prohibited from possessing firearms (Penal Law 400.00(10)(b)). A person whose license is suspended cannot recertify, because that person cannot make that affirmation.
There is no fee for recertification, though existing county fees for new applications and amendments still apply. Recertifying does not produce a new physical license; you must still carry your county-issued pistol or revolver license on your person while carrying a handgun (Penal Law 400.00(8)).
Recertification comes due on the cycle itself. The only notice duty written into Penal Law 400.00(10)(b) was a one-time one: for licenses issued before the 2013 chapter that added the paragraph, recertification was due on or before January 31, 2018, and the State Police were to notify holders who had not recertified at least a year before that date.
Failure to recertify acts as a revocation of the license (Penal Law 400.00(10)(b)). This is the single most important consequence in this section: an unrecertified license is treated as revoked, and possessing or carrying a handgun without a valid license is a crime under Article 265 (for example, criminal possession of a firearm under Penal Law 265.01-b, a class E felony, or criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree under Penal Law 265.01, a class A misdemeanor).
A short grace window exists for renewals. A license that has not been revoked or cancelled remains in full force for 30 days beyond its stated expiration date, and an application to renew a license that has not already expired, been revoked or been cancelled extends the term until the licensing officer disposes of it (Penal Law 400.00(10)(a)). Separately, possessing a handgun within the one-year period after the stated expiration date of an otherwise valid license "which has not been previously cancelled or revoked" is punishable only as a class A misdemeanor under Penal Law 400.00, rather than reaching Article 265 (Penal Law 400.00(17)).
Both of those windows are measured from a stated expiration date, so they speak to licenses that expire, which means New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester. A license issued elsewhere carries no stated expiration date, and a missed recertification there acts as a revocation rather than an expiration. Do not treat either window as a substitute for recertifying or renewing on time.
A denial, non-renewal, non-recertification, or revocation must be issued in writing with the reasons stated, and you may request a hearing within 90 days of receiving that notice, before the appeals board created by the Division of Criminal Justice Services and the Superintendent of State Police (Penal Law 400.00(4-a)).
The CCIA created an 18-hour firearm safety training requirement for concealed carry licenses: a minimum of 16 hours of in-person classroom instruction plus a minimum of 2 hours of live-fire range training, taught by an authorized instructor using a curriculum approved by the Division of Criminal Justice Services and the State Police (Penal Law 400.00(19)). The applicant must score at least 80 percent on a written test and meet the live-fire proficiency standard, after which the instructor issues a certificate of completion.
Whether this training applies when you renew or recertify depends on which process you are in:
State guidance says local licensing officers have the discretion to decide whether a portion or all of the training requirement is satisfied for an applicant who completed a firearm safety course in the previous five years. Service is not a blanket exemption: the same guidance says the training requirements apply to all applicants for a concealed carry license, retired law enforcement and former military included, while allowing that a licensing officer may satisfy the requirement for active or retired military or law enforcement who received firearm training in excess of the course standards as part of their service or profession. That is discretion, not an entitlement, so ask your licensing officer before you count on it.
The 400.00(19) curriculum must cover general firearm safety; safe storage requirements and secure storage best practices; state and federal gun laws; situational awareness; conflict de-escalation; best practices when encountering law enforcement; the sensitive locations defined in Penal Law 265.01-e and the restricted-location rules in Penal Law 265.01-d; conflict management; the use of deadly force (under Penal Law 35.15(2)(a) a person may not use deadly physical force if he or she knows that with complete personal safety, to oneself and others, the necessity can be avoided by retreating, with no duty to retreat when in his or her dwelling and not the initial aggressor); suicide prevention; and the basic principles of marksmanship, in addition to the live-fire component.
A pistol or revolver license is "not transferable to any other person or premises" (Penal Law 400.00(6)), and it specifies each covered weapon by calibre, make, model, manufacturer's name and serial number, and whether it was issued to carry on the person or to possess on the premises (Penal Law 400.00(7)). Keep it accurate:
New York City administers its own, stricter handgun licensing through the NYPD License Division, governed by the New York City Administrative Code (Section 10-131) and the Rules of the City of New York (Title 38). A license issued elsewhere in the state "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 the five narrow exceptions Penal Law 400.00(6) then lists, which cover locked-container transport, armored car security guards, and licenses marked for retired police officers, retired federal law enforcement officers, and state tax department peace officers. If your license was issued by the NYPD, follow the City's renewal process and deadlines rather than the State Police recertification system.
The renewal, recertification, and training rules above come from the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, enacted after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down New York's old "proper cause" standard in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022). The CCIA replaced "proper cause" with enhanced eligibility requirements, including the "good moral character" standard, which Penal Law 400.00(1)(b) defines as "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," along with an in-person interview, character references, and the 18-hour training.
The CCIA was challenged in Antonyuk v. James, 120 F.4th 941 (2d Cir. 2024), where the Second Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction against most of the provisions before it, leaving the licensing eligibility and training framework described in this section in force; the Supreme Court denied certiorari on April 7, 2025 (No. 24-795).
One CCIA rule is on the books but enjoined in part. Penal Law 265.01-d, the restricted-location offense that makes it a crime to carry onto another person's private property without the owner's permission, has not been repealed or struck down as a whole. On October 10, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York permanently enjoined the defendants "from enforcing" that section "with respect to private property open to the public," and the Second Circuit affirmed that injunction on May 18, 2026 in Christian v. James, 176 F.4th 189 (2d Cir. 2026). The State Police say on gunsafety.ny.gov that they are not currently enforcing the provision as to private property held open to the public. As to private property that is not held open to the public, 265.01-d still applies on its own terms, and an owner or lessee who does not want firearms on the premises may still exclude them. The Supreme Court reached the same conclusion about a Hawaii law in Wolford v. Lopez, No. 24-1046 (decided June 25, 2026), which confirms the reasoning but is not what changed New York's statute.
The renewal, recertification, and training-at-renewal provisions described here are not affected by those rulings and remain operative. Litigation over the 2022 law is still moving, so confirm the current status on gunsafety.ny.gov or with your licensing officer before you rely on any of it.
This page covers one part of our New York concealed carry guide.
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