New York requires a license to carry a concealed pistol or revolver, and it cannot issue until the applicant completes a firearms safety course. The...
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 carry a concealed pistol or revolver, and it cannot issue until the applicant completes a firearms safety course. The mandate sits in Penal Law 400.00(19), and Penal Law 400.00(1)(o)(iii) directs a carry applicant to submit to the licensing officer a "certification of completion of the training required in subdivision nineteen of this section".
Penal Law 400.00(19) opens by fixing when the duty attaches and who must satisfy it: "Prior to the issuance or renewal of a license under paragraph (f) of subdivision two of this section, issued or renewed on or after the effective date of this subdivision, an applicant shall complete an in-person live firearms safety course conducted by a duly authorized instructor with curriculum approved by the division of criminal justice services and the superintendent of state police".
The duty runs to a license under paragraph (f) of subdivision two, which is the license to "have and carry concealed, without regard to employment or place of possession" (Penal Law 400.00(2)(f)). The curriculum approval is conjunctive: the Division of Criminal Justice Services and the Superintendent of State Police both approve it. The subdivision then sets two components, and both must be met.
Paragraph (a): the classroom hours. The course requires "a minimum of sixteen hours of in-person live curriculum approved by the division of criminal justice services and the superintendent of state police, conducted by a duly authorized instructor approved by the division of criminal justice services". For the classroom component the statute names DCJS alone as the approver of the instructor.
The statute says the classroom curriculum "shall include but not be limited to the following topics", then lists eleven. The list is a floor:
Paragraph (b): the range hours. The course requires "a minimum of two hours of a live-fire range training course."
Sixteen classroom hours plus two live-fire hours is how the statute states the requirement. Eighteen hours is the sum, not a figure the statute itself uses.
Penal Law 400.00(19) sets a two-part proficiency showing, and both parts are required. The applicant "shall be required to demonstrate proficiency by scoring a minimum of eighty percent correct answers on a written test for the curriculum under paragraph (a) of this subdivision and the proficiency level determined by the rules and regulations promulgated by the division of criminal justice services and the superintendent of state police for the live-fire range training under paragraph (b) of this subdivision."
The written score is fixed in statute; the live-fire standard is delegated to DCJS and the Superintendent.
DCJS and the Division of State Police issued Minimum Standards for New York State Concealed Carry Firearm Safety Training, dated August 23, 2022, "to guide Duly Authorized Instructors in administering concealed carry firearms safety training courses as required by New York Penal Law § 400.00(19)." The standards also state that "Course materials and qualified instructors that satisfy all the minimum standards defined herein will be deemed approved by DCJS and DSP." The detail below comes from that document, not the statute.
On the classroom component the standards state that training "must include 16 hours of in-person live classroom instruction conducted by a Duly Authorized Instructor", and assign minimum hours to four listed topics:
The remaining classroom topics carry no separate hour minimum, and the standards add one subject the statute does not enumerate: the adverse effects of alcohol and drug use as it pertains to firearm safety.
On the written test the standards add a records duty: "Duly Authorized Instructors must maintain records of student performance on the written examination for at least five (5) years".
On the range component the standards state that training "must include 2 hours of live-fire training conducted by a Duly Authorized Instructor", covering range safety, safe drawing, target acquisition and re-holstering, dry firing, safe loading and unloading, and firearm condition checks.
The live-fire proficiency assessment runs in sequence through safe-condition, draw, target acquisition and loading steps, then on command, "fire all five rounds from a standing position, from a distance of 4 yards" at a paper target measuring 25 and one half inches by 11 inches, where "At least four out of the five rounds must be on target", and closes with a final condition check. Either live ammunition or non-lethal training ammunition may be used, and assessment records must be kept for at least five years.
Confirm the current version of these standards on the state's firearm safety training standards page before relying on any figure.
An applicant without a license still must fire a handgun to finish the course. Penal Law 265.20(a)(3-a) supplies the exemption: "Possession of a pistol or revolver by a person undergoing live-fire range training pursuant to section 400.00 of this chapter while such person is undergoing such training and is supervised by a duly authorized instructor." Both conditions have to hold at once.
Penal Law 400.00(19) provides that on the required showing, "a certificate of completion shall be issued to such applicant in the applicant's name and endorsed and affirmed under the penalties of perjury by such duly authorized instructor." That certificate goes to the licensing officer under Penal Law 400.00(1)(o)(iii).
New York City adds a freshness rule. Under the NYPD licensing rules at 38 RCNY 5-03(a)(2), a carry or special handgun license applicant "must submit a certification of completion of the training required by § 400.00(1)(o)(iii) of the New York State Penal Law. The applicant must complete such training and receive such certificate no more than six (6) months prior to submission of their application."
State guidance states that "Any individual who seeks to obtain a concealed carry license for a pistol or revolver will be required to take the 16-hour classroom and 2-hour live-fire firearm safety training course", required for licenses issued on or after September 1, 2022.
Renewal and recertification split apart, and the split follows jurisdiction:
Penal Law 400.00(19) closes by limiting repeat exposure for holders who predate the requirement: "An applicant required to complete the training required herein prior to renewal of a license issued prior to the effective date of this subdivision shall only be required to complete such training for the first renewal of such license after such effective date."
New York City reaches renewal applicants the course requirement does not: under 38 RCNY 5-03(a)(2), "Applicants whose renewal applications are not subject to such training requirement shall nevertheless, within six months of each renewal, submit a certification of completion of two hours of a live-fire range training course that meets the requirements of § 400.00(19)(b) of the Penal Law."
The standards give the licensing officer a credit power tied to a fixed lookback: "For concealed carry firearm license applicants who have completed a firearm safety training course within the five years preceding September 1, 2022, the respective licensing officer may give credit for such prior training to satisfy some or all of the training requirements set forth in New York Penal Law § 400.00(19), as the licensing officer deems appropriate." State guidance frames the same credit in rolling terms: "Local licensing officers have the discretion to determine whether a portion or all of the firearms training requirement is satisfied for those applicants who completed a firearm safety course in the previous 5 years". The standards' window is fixed to a 2022 date; the guidance's rolls forward.
Service does not carry a blanket exemption from the subdivision nineteen course. The partial hours exemption for honorably discharged servicemembers in Penal Law 400.00(1)(l)(i) is set out under Westchester below. State guidance states that "The firearm safety training requirements apply to all applicants for a concealed carry license. This includes retired law enforcement and former military personnel", while adding that "local licensing officers may satisfy the training requirement for active or retired military personnel or law enforcement officers who received firearm training, in excess of the standards set forth for the firearm safety training course, as a component of their service or profession (e.g., the New York State Basic Course for Police Officers)." That is discretionary, not an entitlement, so ask your licensing officer first.
Penal Law 265.00(19) defines "Duly authorized instructor" in four prongs: (a) a duly commissioned officer of the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard, or of the New York National Guard; (b) a duly qualified adult United States citizen granted a certificate as an instructor in small arms practice by the United States Army, Navy or Marine Corps, by the state Adjutant General, by the Division of Criminal Justice Services, or by the National Rifle Association of America; (c) a person designated by the Department of Environmental Conservation as its agent for instruction and certification in responsible hunting practices; or (d) a New York State 4-H certified shooting sports instructor.
The DCJS and State Police standards state that "Instructors authorized by New York Penal Law § 265.00(19) are deemed approved to instruct the concealed carry firearms safety training course." The standards also make licensing officers responsible for confirming an applicant's training came from a Duly Authorized Instructor before a license issues or renews.
Westchester County carries a separate safety course certificate requirement. Penal Law 400.00(4-c) directs the licensing officer to give each applicant the safety course booklet at application, and provides that before a license issues the officer "shall require that the applicant submit a certificate of successful completion of a firearms safety course and test". Penal Law 400.00(1)(l) carries the matching eligibility criterion.
That paragraph opens "in the county of Westchester", then carves out three groups. Persons honorably discharged from the United States army, navy, marine corps or coast guard, or of the New York national guard, who produce evidence of official qualification in firearms during their service "are not required to have completed those hours of a firearms safety course pertaining to the safe use, carrying, possession, maintenance and storage of a firearm". Persons licensed before the paragraph took effect need no course or test, but carry licensees who held a license before the 2022 amendment "shall be required to complete the training required by subdivision nineteen of this section prior to the recertification of such license". Post-2022 carry applicants must complete "the training required under subdivision nineteen of this section for such license". The statute does not say how far that opening Westchester language reaches, so ask your licensing officer or the State Police how the proviso applies where you file.
Neither the statute nor the standards set a price. State guidance states that "Training costs and locations will be set by the instructor." Because the instructor sets the price, quotes vary. Range fees may be billed separately from classroom tuition, so ask what a quote includes.
The training requirement was not enjoined in the litigation over the 2022 law. In its post-remand opinion in Antonyuk, the Second Circuit recounted that the district court "declined, however, to enjoin the requirements that an applicant attend an in-person meeting, provide four character references, and undergo firearms training", and that plaintiffs "have not cross-appealed from or otherwise challenged those rulings here, so we express no view on them." Penal Law 400.00(19) and 400.00(1)(o)(iii) are in force, and the Second Circuit decided the case on remand on October 24, 2024, so confirm the current status before relying on this.
This page covers one part of our New York concealed carry guide.
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