State Preemption and the State-vs-Local Split | New York Concealed Carry

State Preemption and the State-vs-Local Split

Overview

New York does not have a general firearms preemption statute. On the licensing side it has the opposite. Penal Law 400.30 provides that "Nothing in this article shall be construed to impair or in any way prevent 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." Counties, cities, towns, and villages may therefore layer stricter rules on top of the Penal Law article 400 licensing scheme.

That said, New York is a licensed-carry state with a tightly controlled statewide framework, and two features of state law operate in a preemption-like way:

• A handgun license issued under Penal Law 400.00 is "valid notwithstanding the provisions of any local law or ordinance" and is "effective throughout the state," with one large exception: the license is not valid inside New York City unless the NYPD police commissioner issues a special permit (Penal Law 400.00(6)). So a locality cannot nullify a validly issued state license, but New York City has a carve-out that effectively requires its own license.
• The criminal statutes that define where and how firearms may be possessed (the sensitive-location and restricted-location crimes, the assault-weapon and large-capacity-magazine rules, and the use-of-force rules) are uniform state law. Localities apply them statewide; they do not get to weaken them.

The result is a layered system. State law sets a mandatory floor and a uniform set of crimes. New York City layers a stricter licensing regime on top. Other counties vary mostly in process and discretion, not in the underlying criminal code.

Statutory Basis for Local Authority

The Penal Law itself says local firearms rules survive, in four places:

• Penal Law 400.30 (Application). "Nothing in this article shall be construed to impair or in any way prevent 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." That covers all of article 400, the licensing article.
• Penal Law 400.00(18) (notice on issuance). After setting out the safe-storage warning a licensing officer must give a new licensee, the subdivision adds: "Nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to affect, impair or supersede any special or local law relating to providing notice regarding the safe storage of rifles, shotguns or firearms."
• Penal Law 400.00(20)(d) (dealer warnings). "The provisions of this subdivision shall not supersede any local law or ordinance that imposes stricter disclosure or notice requirements."
• Penal Law 265.45 and 265.46 (failure to safely store, first and second degree). Each carries the same clause: nothing in the section "shall be deemed to affect, impair or supersede any special or local act relating to the safe storage of rifles, shotguns or firearms which impose additional requirements on the owner or custodian of such weapons." New York State describes one of the SAFE Act amendments in the same terms, as "Ensuring that local safe storage laws are not preempted by the SAFE Act."

Note one important boundary set by statute itself. Penal Law 400.00(6) provides that a license issued under Penal Law 400.00 "shall be valid notwithstanding the provisions of any local law or ordinance" and, if not otherwise limited as to place or time of possession, "shall be effective throughout the state," except within New York City absent a special permit from that city's police commissioner. A locality cannot use a local ordinance to invalidate a license the state issued. It can still add stricter rules of its own.

Statewide Licensing Framework (Penal Law 400.00)

Every jurisdiction in New York operates inside the state pistol-licensing system in Penal Law 400.00. Carrying or possessing a handgun without a license is a crime; there is no constitutional or permitless carry in New York.

Key statewide baselines that no county may lower:

• Licensing officers and county-level administration. Penal Law 265.00(10) defines "licensing officer" as the police commissioner in the city of New York, the commissioner of police in Nassau, the sheriff in Suffolk except in five named towns where it is that county's police commissioner, the superintendent of state police for purposes of Penal Law 400.01, "and elsewhere in the state a judge or justice of a court of record having his office in the county of issuance." Applications go to the licensing officer where the applicant resides, is principally employed, or has a principal place of business (Penal Law 400.00(3)(a)).
• Eligibility. Applicants must be at least 21 (with a narrow honorable-discharge exception), of good moral character, and free of disqualifying convictions, warrants, mental-health adjudications, and other listed bars (Penal Law 400.00(1)). The Concealed Carry Improvement Act defines "good moral character" 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" (Penal Law 400.00(1)(b)).
• Enhanced carry-license requirements (CCIA). For a license to carry concealed without regard to employment or place of possession under Penal Law 400.00(2)(f), the applicant "shall meet in person with the licensing officer for an interview" and must supply cohabitant information, no less than four character references, certification of the required training, and a list of former and current social media accounts from the past three years (Penal Law 400.00(1)(o)(i) through (iv)). The interview, the references, and the cohabitant disclosure are enforceable. Clause (iv) is on the books but off the form. No court has held it unconstitutional, and the Legislature has not repealed it. In Antonyuk v. Hochul (N.D.N.Y.), a stipulation of partial settlement so ordered on March 30, 2026 permanently enjoined the State Defendants from enforcing the clause against the plaintiff, and the Superintendent agreed to "ensure that the PPB-3 license application form does not include language requiring social media information." The parties agreed the terms "shall have no legal precedential value," and the injunction terminates if the Legislature repeals the clause. The current PPB-3 does not ask for social media accounts.
• Training. Before issuance or renewal of a carry license, the applicant must complete a minimum of sixteen hours of in-person live curriculum plus a minimum of two hours of a live-fire range training course, conducted by a duly authorized instructor under a curriculum approved by the Division of Criminal Justice Services and the State Police, and must score at least 80 percent on a written test (Penal Law 400.00(19)).
• Expiration and recertification. Penal Law 400.00(10)(b) provides that "All licensees shall be recertified to the division of state police every five years thereafter, except as otherwise provided in paragraph (d) of this subdivision," and that "Failure to recertify shall act as a revocation of such license." Paragraph (d) overrides that cycle for concealed carry: licenses issued under paragraph (f) of subdivision two "shall be recertified or renewed every three years following the issuance of such license." Under paragraph (c), a semiautomatic rifle license "shall be recertified to the applicable licensing officer every five years following the issuance of such license." Paragraph (a) sets the separate expiration terms, which are not uniform: not more than three years in the city of New York, not more than five years in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester, and elsewhere a license not previously revoked or cancelled "shall be in force and effect until revoked as herein provided."
• Revocation and surrender. Conviction of a felony or serious offense, or becoming ineligible, operates as grounds for revocation; a license may be revoked at any time in New York City and in Nassau and Suffolk counties by the licensing officer, and elsewhere by any judge or justice of a court of record (Penal Law 400.00(11)(a)). On suspension or revocation, the person must surrender the license and all firearms, rifles, and shotguns to law enforcement (Penal Law 400.00(11)(c)).
• Display. A carry licensee must have the license on their person while carrying and must exhibit it on demand to a police or peace officer; failure to do so is presumptive evidence of not being duly licensed (Penal Law 400.00(8)).
• Penalty. Any violation of Penal Law 400.00 is a class A misdemeanor (Penal Law 400.00(15)).

The State Police maintain a statewide license and record database under Penal Law 400.02(1), and records assembled or collected for that database "shall not be subject to disclosure pursuant to article six of the public officers law," a sentence repeated in Penal Law 400.00(5)(a). That same paragraph makes the name and address of a person granted a license a public record unless the applicant obtains one of the exceptions in paragraphs (b) through (f) of the subdivision. Penal Law 400.01 provides a separate licensing path for retired sworn members of the State Police.

New York City: A Separate, Stricter Regime

New York City runs its own handgun licensing system, administered by the NYPD License Division, and it is the most significant departure from the statewide baseline.

• A state license is not valid in the five boroughs. Under Penal Law 400.00(6), a pistol or revolver license issued outside New York City is not valid within the city unless the police commissioner issues a special permit. The subdivision supplies five narrow exceptions, including firearms "being transported by the licensee in a locked container" where "the trip through the city of New York is continuous and uninterrupted," firearms bought from a licensed city dealer and taken out of the city forthwith in a locked container, armored car security guards during their employment, and certain retired police, retired federal law enforcement, and state tax department peace officers whose licenses are marked accordingly. Those are exceptions, not a general right to carry on a license issued elsewhere.
• City code. New York City's firearms licensing requirements are set out in the New York City Administrative Code (Section 10-131 and related provisions) and the Rules of the City of New York (Title 38, NYPD License Division rules). These impose additional application requirements and historically distinguished among premises, business, and carry licenses.
• Practical consequence. Carrying a handgun into New York City on a license issued elsewhere, without the city special permit and outside a statutory transport exception, can expose a person to criminal possession charges under Penal Law 265.01 (criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, a class A misdemeanor) or, depending on the circumstances, the more serious felonies in Penal Law 265.01-b, 265.02, or 265.03.

County-Level Variation

Because licensing is administered locally, the experience of getting and keeping a license varies by county even though the statewide rules are the same:

• Processing times. Penal Law 400.00(4-b) requires the licensing officer to act on an application "within six months of the date of presentment of such an application to the appropriate authority." Delay past that is allowed only "upon written notice to the applicant specifically stating the reasons for any delay," and "may only be for good cause and with respect to the applicant." The statute sets the outer limit; it does not make every county move at the same pace.
• Fees. Penal Law 400.00(14) sets license fees locally. In the city of New York the city council, and in Nassau and Westchester the county legislative body, fixes the fee for a license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver. Elsewhere the licensing officer collects a county fee of "not less than three dollars nor more than ten dollars as may be determined by the legislative body of the county," plus three dollars for each amendment, five dollars in the county of Suffolk.
• Discretion in revocation venue. As noted, New York City, Nassau, and Suffolk vest revocation authority in the licensing officer, while elsewhere it lies with a judge or justice of a court of record (Penal Law 400.00(11)(a)).
• Local overlays. Penal Law 400.30 preserves any local law, code, ordinance, rule or regulation "that is more restrictive than any requirement set forth in or established by" article 400, and Penal Law 400.00(18), 400.00(20)(d), 265.45 and 265.46 preserve stricter local notice and safe-storage requirements. Check the rules of the county and the municipality you are actually in, not the Penal Law alone.

Statewide Location Crimes (Uniform, Not Local)

The Concealed Carry Improvement Act created two location-based crimes that apply statewide. These are state crimes; localities enforce them as written and may add restrictions but cannot relax them.

• Sensitive locations (Penal Law 265.01-e). It is a crime to possess a firearm, rifle, or shotgun in a sensitive location when the person "knows or reasonably should know such location is a sensitive location." Subdivision 2 defines twenty categories, paragraphs (a) through (t): government buildings and courts; health, behavioral health and chemical dependence care; "any place of worship, except for those persons responsible for security at such place of worship"; libraries, public playgrounds, public parks and zoos; children and family services programs and permitted childcare; nursery schools, preschools and summer camps; developmental disabilities, addiction services, mental health and temporary assistance programs; shelters; health department residential settings; schools, colleges and universities; public transportation and its facilities at paragraph (n); on-premises alcohol and cannabis establishments; entertainment, gaming and sporting venues; polling places; signed access-restricted public areas; protests and assemblies; and Times Square at paragraph (t). Criminal possession of a firearm, rifle or shotgun in a sensitive location is a class E felony, and the whole list is in force.
• Restricted locations (Penal Law 265.01-d). This statute makes it a class E felony to possess a firearm, rifle, or shotgun and enter or remain on private property where the person knows or reasonably should know that the owner or lessee "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 has not been repealed, and it has not been invalidated as a whole. It is enjoined in part. On October 10, 2024 the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York ordered that defendants and those acting with them "are permanently enjoined, effectively immediately, from enforcing N.Y. Pen. L. 265.01-d with respect to private property open to the public," and the Second Circuit affirmed that permanent injunction on May 18, 2026 in Christian v. James, 176 F.4th 189 (2d Cir. 2026). The State Police say the same in operational terms: "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." As to private property that is not held open to the public, 265.01-d still applies on its own terms. Property owners keep the right to exclude firearms either way. The statute exempts, among others, police and peace officers, qualified active and retired law enforcement carrying under 18 U.S.C. 926B and 926C, registered armed security guards at work, and active-duty military.

Litigation status. One provision is enjoined in part, and everything else in the CCIA stands. Penal Law 265.01-d is on the books and is not enforced only as to private property open to the public, under the Christian permanent injunction the Second Circuit affirmed on May 18, 2026. Wolford v. Lopez (U.S. June 25, 2026) reached the same conclusion about a Hawaii law and is confirmatory. The Second Circuit got to New York's statute first, and no court has invalidated a New York statute nationwide. The same Christian decision affirmed judgment for the State on the public parks ban in Penal Law 265.01-e(2)(d), so parks stay off limits. In Antonyuk v. James, 120 F.4th 941 (2d Cir. 2024), certiorari denied April 7, 2025 (No. 24-795), the Second Circuit vacated the preliminary injunctions against the sensitive-location provisions, including the place-of-worship provision in Penal Law 265.01-e(2)(c), which the Legislature had already narrowed effective May 3, 2023 to except "those persons responsible for security at such place of worship" (2023 N.Y. Laws ch. 55, pt. F). A separate plaintiff-specific preliminary injunction issued in Spencer v. Chiumento survives for the plaintiffs in that case. Everyone else should treat a place of worship as a sensitive location. The social media clause in Penal Law 400.00(1)(o)(iv) is off the PPB-3 by the March 30, 2026 so-ordered stipulation described above, not by any holding of unconstitutionality. Three matters were open as of late August 2026: the Christian public-transit claim, whose stay was lifted August 17, 2026, with Penal Law 265.01-e(2)(n) still in force; a certiorari petition on the public parks ban that plaintiffs said they anticipated filing before a September 16, 2026 deadline; and cross-motions for summary judgment in Antonyuk, with reply briefs due September 18, 2026 and no ruling. Confirm current enforcement status on gunsafety.ny.gov before relying on any of it.

Statewide Weapon and Magazine Overlays (SAFE Act)

These restrictions are uniform statewide and are not a matter of local option:

• Assault weapons. "Assault weapon" is defined in Penal Law 265.00(22). Possession of an assault weapon is criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, a class D felony (Penal Law 265.02(7)).
• Large-capacity magazines. A "large capacity ammunition feeding device" is a magazine or similar device that holds, or can be readily converted to hold, more than ten rounds (Penal Law 265.00(23)). Possession is criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, a class D felony (Penal Law 265.02(8)).
• Seven-round load limit (Penal Law 265.37). Unlawful possession of certain ammunition feeding devices makes it unlawful "for a person to knowingly possess an ammunition feeding device where such device contains more than seven rounds of ammunition." Inside the possessor's home a first offense is a violation with a two hundred dollar fine, and each subsequent offense is a class B misdemeanor. Anywhere else a first offense is a class B misdemeanor and each subsequent offense is a class A misdemeanor. New York State describes the SAFE Act amendments as "Suspending the requirement that only magazines that can contain 7 rounds or less can be purchased," with magazines that hold up to ten rounds purchasable going forward. That statement addresses purchase, not the load limit. The load limit itself was held unconstitutional in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Cuomo, 804 F.3d 242 (2d Cir. 2015), where the Second Circuit concluded that "New York's seven-round load limit does not survive intermediate scrutiny" and affirmed the judgment holding it unconstitutional. Section 265.37 was not repealed, and that holding rested on intermediate scrutiny, the means-end framework the Supreme Court replaced in Bruen (2022) with a test rooted in text and history. Confirm the current status of Penal Law 265.37 with the New York State Police at gunsafety.ny.gov before relying on it.
• Rapid-fire modification devices. Possession of a rapid-fire modification device (such as a bump stock) is a class A misdemeanor (Penal Law 265.01-c).

Use of Force Is Uniform State Law

New York's self-defense rules are statewide and not subject to local variation. Outside the home, a person must retreat before using deadly physical force if they know they can do so with complete personal safety, with a Castle exception inside the dwelling for a person who is not the initial aggressor (Penal Law 35.15). Defense of premises and property is governed by Penal Law 35.20. New York has no stand-your-ground law.

Federal Law Sits Above All of This

Several federal rules apply regardless of New York or local law:

• Federal prohibited persons. 18 U.S.C. 922(g) bars possession by categories such as felons, certain domestic-violence misdemeanants, and unlawful drug users. Being under indictment is addressed separately by 18 U.S.C. 922(n), not 922(g).
• LEOSA. Qualified active and retired law enforcement officers may carry under 18 U.S.C. 926B and 926C; New York's restricted-location statute (Penal Law 265.01-d) expressly recognizes these officers.
• Airports and aircraft. Carrying or attempting to board an aircraft with a concealable weapon, or carrying into a sterile/secured area, is a federal crime under 49 U.S.C. 46505. This is separate from any New York offense and applies at New York airports.

Relevant Statutes

Recent Developments

• Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA), effective September 1, 2022. Enacted after the U.S. Supreme Court held New York's prior "proper cause" standard for carry licenses unconstitutional in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. The CCIA replaced "proper cause" with the enhanced eligibility, interview, reference, and training requirements described above and created the sensitive-location and restricted-location crimes.
• CCIA litigation: most of the act stands. In Antonyuk v. James, 120 F.4th 941 (2d Cir. 2024), certiorari denied April 7, 2025, the Second Circuit vacated the preliminary injunctions against the sensitive-location provisions and against the good moral character standard, preserving relief only as to Penal Law 400.00(1)(o)(iv) and Penal Law 265.01-d as applied to private property held open to the general public. In Christian v. James, 176 F.4th 189 (2d Cir. May 18, 2026), the court affirmed the permanent injunction against enforcing Penal Law 265.01-d as to private property open to the public and affirmed judgment for the State on the public parks ban. Wolford v. Lopez (U.S. June 25, 2026) reached the same conclusion about a Hawaii law. Parks, public transit, Times Square and the rest of the sensitive-location list remain enforceable class E felony locations.
• No general firearms preemption statute. New York has not enacted one. Penal Law 400.30 runs the other way, expressly preserving any local law, code, ordinance, rule or regulation more restrictive than article 400, and the safe-storage sections carry the same kind of saving clause.

Bottom line: Because New York has no general firearms preemption statute, a valid state license does not exempt a holder from local rules or, most importantly, from New York City's separate licensing requirement. Comply with both the statewide framework and any stricter local or city requirements before carrying, and pay close attention when traveling between upstate counties and New York City.