can I get a Pistol without a permit?

S

strible

Inactive
Hi all
I have recently decided i wanted a pistol, to add to my two rifles :D ,but have sadly found out that newyork state law says you have to be 21 to get a pistol permit, and im only 18. But there was some mention of antique pistols being excempt from this restriction. But was constitutes as an antique? I was looking to get the Russian 1895 7.62 Nagant revolver, which is C&R eligable (i have no clue what that means, but i know the R stands for Relic :D). So i was just wondering if you guys know if i could get this particular pistol without a permit, and if not is there any type of pistol i could get without a permit?
Thanks
 
C&R stands for Curio and Relic. It is a type of federal firearms License that lets you buy older guns, but not new guns. I think that they have to be 45 years old to qualify, but I am not sure on the age. I doubt that you could get a C&R License at 18.

I think that you may have to wait until you are 21. I did.

Federal law exempts black powder revolvers from restrictions placed on modern firearms, but NY law may be more strict. Ask a gun dealer. Black powder is not for everybody as it is dirty and loading is slow. Clean up is messy, too.
 
If an immediate family member gives you a pistol, federal law allows you to own a pistol. New york law may be different.

I'm pretty sure C&Rs have to be 50 years old to qualify, but if you research the NY statute you'll probably find that they mean a pre 1898 weapon or blackpowder when they say "antique".

I'm not sure, so look into it yourself,
 
I live in New York state. About 7 years ago I purchased a black powder revolver online since you don't need a permit to purchase one or to own one in NYS. However, after reading the laws carefully I realized that in NYS you don't need a permit to OWN one but you do need a permit to SHOOT one! If you are in possesion of the BP revolver AND ammunition to make it shoot, then you are breaking the law! Needless to say, I quickly applied for a pistol permit and have since bought several other handguns. A black powder revolver can easily be purchased online, and the powder, round balls and percussion caps can easily be purchased anywhere, but in NYS you will be breaking the law unless you have a permit. Unless you want to buy a black powder revolver just to look at, in NYS you need a pistol permit for any handgun. You must wait until you are 21.
 
In NY you need a permit to buy any handgun (the exception being the black powder type as the previous poster described). The C&R license is not a license to own a gun. It's a license to buy and sell C&R guns without having to go through a FFL. All guns over 50 years old are automatically C&R. Many from defunct manufacturers and imported service pistols are classified as C&R before they are 50. The ATF maintains a list. NY even makes getting a C&R license extra difficult. If you live in a normal free state you apply and they send you the license if you have no criminal background. In NY you have to meet with the local ATF agent one on one before you can get the permit. Basically in NY until you are 21 and have a NY pistol permit there is no legal way to acquire a handgun and if you buy the black powder one and have the equipment to load and shoot it you will be in some serious legal trouble. Even if you are over 21 you still need the permit. The process is a pain (I've been through it) and depending on your location it can take a month or year or you can be in a location where you will probably never get one e.g. NYC and surrounding counties. If you have the permit when you buy a handgun you have to go to the local sheriff's office and they record the make and sn of the gun on your permit. You cannot own or carry any handgun not listed on your permit. One area I don't think NY is unique in is the requirement to be 21 before you can purchase a handgun. Although in most states if you are of the age to legally buy one you don't need a permit to do so, you just go the store and buy a pistol just like you would a rifle. You only need a permit if you want to carry it concealed. My advice is to get out of NYS as soon as you can. There is an entire free country out here with less draconian laws, much lower taxes, better economies, and better weather. This comes from someone who was born and raised in NY and finally moved out for good 4 years ago. You couldn't pay me enough to move back to that screwed up state.
 
It depends where you live as to what law you have to follow.I live in Maine and there are no permits to purchase any firearms.No limits you can purchase
in a month.We are fortunate as we live in a shall issue state for ccw which make getting a conceal carry permit pretty easy.
 
I feel ya guy. Those are the 3 longest years of a gun nut's life. And I didn't know that until a couple days before 5/21/97, my 18th birthday as I prepared to buy a Delta Elite 10mm. I sold my damn dirt bike to get the rest I needed to add to what I saved.
I would say just hold out and in the mean time, get some EBR's, but i don't know what flies in New York state. Don't think it is the most gun friendly place.

Where could one obtain applications for a C&R, anyone know?
 
Look up the law online. NY does not have any reference to federally classified C&R handguns. The exemption in NY is different, referencing only those guns that do not have commercially available ammunition as antiques or collectables.
part of section 400 of the NY penal law:
g) have, possess, collect and carry antique
pistols which are defined as follows: (i) any single shot, muzzle
loading pistol with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar
type of ignition system manufactured in or before l898, which is not
designed for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition;
and (ii) any replica of any pistol described in clause (i) hereof if
such replica--
(1) is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional
centerfire fixed ammunition, or
(2) uses rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition which is
no longer manufactured in the United States and which is not readily
available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade.
Some manuals I have seen published by various counties interpret this as allowing individuals to own muzzle loading or black powder guns, as long as you don't have the stuff to actually load the weapon.
It's a mess, and NY law is long overdue for an overhaul, but I am afraid of anything that they might pass now. There are some proposals in front of the state senate right now that are really scary. They have already been passed by the assembly.
Stuff like no handguns with less than a 10 lb trigger pull. microstamping of bullets/casings (not really clear) by guns upon firing. Additional restrictions on assault weapons. It goes on and on.
 
Read the law carefully...

Maybe even shell out the bucks for a lawyer to be certain.

They have probably changed the law since I lived there 35 years ago, but back then, the New York law read that it was up to the issueing agency the minimum age requirement. I got my NY pistol permit in Saratoga county at age 18. So did my younger brother two years later. The judge agreed and signed the permit.

You couldn't buy a handgun until you were 21, but you could own (posess) one. We found out about this after an auto accident with both my Mom and Dad involved. Fortunately, their injuries were relatively minor (broken nose -Mom and 15 stitches - Dad) but had my father been killed, his handguns, and he had 6 at the time, would have had to have been turned over to the state, if there were no other permit holders in the household. Turning them in to the State Police, they would be kept a certain amount of time (30 fays, I think) and then destroyed. Turned in to the County Sherriff, they would be kept as long as needed for a permit application to be processed. Mom started her application before her nose even healed. And a few years later, as we each turned 18, we applied to have all the handguns (Mom's and Dad's) in the house listed on our permits. I heard of one case in those days where a judge issued a permit to a 14 year old, who ran a trapline up near the Canadian border.

Read all the applicable laws carefully. If even one says you must be 21 years old, then you are stuck until then. But if the relevant portion of the laws have not been changed since the mid 1970s, then it is up to the issuing authority. And if you can convince them you have a valid reason (and good luck on that) you can get one. But you still can't buy a handgun from an FFL dealer until you are 21, by Federal law.

I hope, for your sake, that the law is still as it was, but knowing the way those people work, it probably has been changed. They are really, really compulsive about handgun permits nowdays. 30 years after I moved out of the state, they sent me a letter, asking where the handguns listed on the permit were, telling me that, since I was no longer a state resident that my permit was invalid, and asking for the physical paper permit back!

Wanna guess how I responded?
 
part of section 400 of the NY penal law:
g) have, possess, collect and carry antique
pistols which are defined as follows: (i) any single shot, muzzle
loading pistol with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar
type of ignition system manufactured in or before l898, which is not
designed for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition;
and (ii) any replica of any pistol described in clause (i) hereof if
such replica--
(1) is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional
centerfire fixed ammunition, or
(2) uses rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition which is
no longer manufactured in the United States and which is not readily
available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade.
Click to expand...

Section g is not an exception to the license rule. It is one of the specific weapons that REQUIRES the permit. And if you read the description, a muzzle loading single shot pistol or replica of 1898 or earlier IS considered an antique under either of two conditions: it cannot fire rimfire or centerfire ammo OR if it does fire rimfire or centerfire ammo, that ammo is obsolete.
 
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