Chemung County to change pistol permit process

[HectorBuckBuster]

Well this is some good news for pistol permits in the county.

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A change to the way pistol permits are issued in Chemung County should reduce paperwork and bureaucratic hoops for applicants who want to carry a handgun for anything other than hunting and target shooting.
Starting in July, Chemung County will stop issuing restricted pistol permits, and instead will issue only unrestricted pistol permits to people who have completed a three-hour course offered by the sheriff’s office.
“I think under the Second Amendment and with everything that’s been going on in the last couple of months, I think this is really awesome news for Chemung County,” said Sheriff Christopher Moss during a press conference Thursday to announce the change.
Chemung County Court is the issuing authority for pistol permits, Moss said. Right now, the court issues two kinds of permits: restricted permits, typically limited to hunting and target shooting, and unrestricted permits, also called carry permits, which permit open or concealed carry of a firearm, with certain exceptions.
Applicants currently have to write a letter to get an unrestricted pistol permit on the first try; many applicants who receive restricted permits apply again to upgrade their status to unrestricted, Moss said. That two-step process made a significant amount of work for his pistol permit division, he said.
The change was years in the making, Moss said.
“When you look at the current pistol permit system and what an applicant currently has to go through, there’s really no sense in having a two-tiered system,” Moss said. Applicants for either kind of permit have to go through the same mental health background check, FBI fingerprint check, and checks with state and local law enforcement agencies.
“It really only makes sense, since it’s the same background check, to give a one-tier permit,” Moss said.
The sheriff’s office spoke with every law enforcement agency in the county, the district attorney, and Chemung County Court judges. All agreed the new system would be reasonable, Moss said.
“We’ll be able to fast-track this, to help not only our own (pistol permit) division, but also the issuing authority, Chemung County Court,” Moss said.
The county has been using a two-tiered system for as long as Moss can remember; he received his pistol permit in 1988.
There are about 4,000 to 5,000 pistol permits in the county, Moss said, noting that the exact number of permit holders and the types of permits they have isn’t known.
Before the official announcement Thursday, Star-Gazette Facebook fans said they anticipated the change.
“Hopefully this is the announcement on going to a one-tier permit system, where everyone is granted a ‘concealed carry’ permit versus a worthless ‘hunting and target practice’ permit,” wrote Chris Collins of Pine City.
“I hope it goes to one-tier permit. I'm still waiting on my approval,” wrote Richard Durgin.
Classes coming

Existing permits, both restricted and unrestricted, remain valid, Moss said. Anyone who would like an unrestricted permit must complete a three-hour class offered by the sheriff’s office.
Classes are scheduled for June 29, July 13 and July 20 at the Chemung County Human Resource Center. Applicants can sign up for the classes starting Monday by calling the sheriff’s office at (607) 737-2987, ext. 251, or by visiting www.chemungsheriff.net.
Moss thinks hundreds of people will sign up for the first few classes. About 200 to 250 people can attend the classes, which cost $20 per person to cover administrative costs, he said.
Moss asked for patience with the application process. Many restricted pistol permit holders want to upgrade, the pistol permit division is already backlogged, and the county court has only one judge handling pistol permits after the recent retirement of Judge Peter Buckley, he explained.
Around the state

About half of the counties in New York State already have a single-tier system for pistol permits, Moss said. A total of 27 counties offer two tiers of permits, 26 counties offer only unrestricted permits and a handful offer permits in a combination of ways, he said.
In Steuben County, the question of whether a pistol permit should have restrictions is left up to a judge, a spokeswoman at the county clerk’s office said. No one in the Schuyler County Clerk’s office would comment about how permits are issued in that county.
The change has nothing to do with the new gun law in New York State, Moss said, though he thought it might go over well with opponents of the new law.
“I think the response that people have felt about how the SAFE act was passed, about what the governor did and how he did it, people were upset with it,” Moss said. “So in my opinion I think this is maybe just one little good thing that we’ve been able to do here on a local level, and I think the residents of Chemung County deserve it.”