or leave it, so I left. Smartest thing I ever did.
GVF is right about the restrictions. For those who don't know about NY:
- in NY you must have a pistol permit to even purchase a handgun
- they have two types of pistol permits: on premise and carry
- on premise permits allow you to have the handguns only in a specific location e.g. your store, home.
- pistol permits are may issue
- the serial numbers of all your handguns are typed on the paper permit. Whenever you buy or sell one you have to go to the local police station and have your permit updated.
- the issuing judge can put restrictions on what activities you can take part in while carrying
- when applying you need to provide the names and contact information of 3 or 4 character references. These people will be sent a questionnaire about you to complete and return to the Sheriff. The references must live in the county where you are applying for the permit and cannot be related to you or each other. The requirements for the references is a little different in each county. When I did mine there was a requirement that the references had to be residents of the county for more than 6 months. When NY first started restricting handguns under the Sullivan Law the main purpose was to restrict firearm ownership by immigrants in general, and Italians in particular. This character reference requirement of the permit process is a direct hold-over from that time period. January 27, 1905 New York Times Editorial -
[The proposed gun control] measure would prove corrective and salutary in a city filled with immigrants and evil communications, floating from the shores of Italy and Austria-Hungary. New York police reports frequently testify to the fact that the Italian and other south Continental gentry here are acquainted with the pocket pistol, and while drunk or merrymaking will use it quite as handily as the stiletto, and with more deadly effect. It is hoped that this treacherous and distinctly outlandish mode of settling disputes may not spread to corrupt the native good manners of the community.
"Big Tim" Sullivan was a politician and organized crime boss in this period. He was a part of the Tammany Hall political machine that controlled a corrupt New York City Police Department (and thereby the future Pistol Licensing Bureau). He also owned the Hesper Club, a successful gambling establishment on the lower east side. This is the man who proposed the Sullivan Act and it is named after.
By writing the law as it was, Sullivan provided himself several advantages. He could:
* guarantee his body guards could be armed,
* guarantee his opponent's body guards should not be armed,
* and use a corrupt police force to arrest his opponents for violations, guilty or not.
It is said that one political opponent had all his pockets sewn closed after three arrests for carrying guns without a permit.http://www.gunlawnews.org/sullivan.html
The restrictions on a carry permit are usually to limit it to outdoor activities like hunting, fishing, hiking, etc and target shooting. The exact terms used will vary by Judge. You get to meet one-on-one with the Judge as part of the process and they will be clear on just what they mean. My friend and I received our permits a couple of months apart in the same county but from different Judges. The Judge he met with listed every single possible activity on his permit, while the Judge I met with listed hunting/target. On a separate contract signed by the Judge and I he had listed his definition of those terms. Basically anything outdoors was covered. Going to dinner and movie was not. Since target shooting was covered and I was a member of gun club with an indoor range, I just left a shooting bag with eyes, ears, targets, and 50 rounds of ammo in the car and I was always on my way to the range.
The restrictions are only between you and the issuing judge. The ability for the Judges to add restrictions has been fought in court, but surprise, surprise, the Judges won. If you are stopped by LEO all they care about is if you have a permit, the restrictions mean nothing to them. However, if you are stopped with your handgun while engaged in an activity that is not listed on your permit, and you are in your home county, you can bet it will get back to the issuing Judge. The Judge can then suspend or revoke your permit if they choose.
In my county as well as many others the Judges issued restricted permits initially unless you could show some type of need to carry all the time, e.g. carry large amounts of cash for work, documented threats on your life. Once you had a permit with restrictions for a year and had no incidents then you could go back and meet with the Judge and request to have the restrictions lifted. The first year was your proving period.
