STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10632
IN ASSEMBLY
July 6, 2022
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Paulin) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to requiring background
checks prior to the renewal of a license to carry or possess a pistol
or revolver
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraphs (a), (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g) of subdivision 5
2 of section 400.00 of the penal law, paragraph (a) as amended and para-
3 graphs (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g) as added by chapter 1 of the laws of
4 2013, and subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (e) as amended by chapter 244
5 of the laws of 2019, are amended to read as follows:
6 (a) The application for any license, if granted, shall be filed by the
7 licensing officer with the clerk of the county of issuance, except that
8 in the city of New York and, in the counties of Nassau and Suffolk, the
9 licensing officer shall designate the place of filing in the appropriate
10 division, bureau or unit of the police department thereof, and in the
11 county of Suffolk the county clerk is hereby authorized to transfer all
12 records or applications relating to firearms to the licensing authority
13 of that county. Except as provided in paragraphs (b) through [(e)] (f)
14 of this subdivision, the name and address of any person to whom an
15 application for any license has been granted shall be a public record.
16 Upon application by a licensee who has changed his place of residence
17 such records or applications shall be transferred to the appropriate
18 officer at the licensee's new place of residence. A duplicate copy of
19 such application shall be filed by the licensing officer in the execu-
20 tive department, division of state police, Albany, within ten days after
21 issuance of the license. The superintendent of state police may desig-
22 nate that such application shall be transmitted to the division of state
23 police electronically. In the event the superintendent of the division
24 of state police determines that it lacks any of the records required to
25 be filed with the division, it may request that such records be provided
26 to it by the appropriate clerk, department or authority and such clerk,
27 department or authority shall provide the division with such records. In
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD16040-03-2
A. 10632 2
1 the event such clerk, department or authority lacks such records, the
2 division may request the license holder provide information sufficient
3 to constitute such record and such license holder shall provide the
4 division with such information. Such information shall be limited to the
5 license holder's name, date of birth, gender, race, residential address,
6 social security number and firearms possessed by said license holder.
7 Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to change the expiration
8 date or term of such licenses if otherwise provided for in law. Records
9 assembled or collected for purposes of inclusion in the database estab-
10 lished by this section shall be released pursuant to a court order.
11 Records assembled or collected for purposes of inclusion in the database
12 created pursuant to section 400.02 of this chapter shall not be subject
13 to disclosure pursuant to article six of the public officers law.
14 (c) [Each form provided for recertification pursuant to paragraph (b)
15 of subdivision ten of this section shall include an opportunity for the
16 applicant to request an exception from the information provided on such
17 form becoming public record pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivi-
18 sion. Such forms shall notify applicants that, upon discovery that an
19 applicant knowingly provided false information, such applicant may be
20 subject to penalties pursuant to section 175.30 of this chapter, and
21 further, that his or her request for an exception shall be null and
22 void, provided that written notice containing such determination is
23 provided to the applicant. Further, such forms shall provide each appli-
24 cant an opportunity to either decline to request the grant or continua-
25 tion of an exception, or specify the grounds on which he or she believes
26 his or her information should not be publicly disclosed. These grounds,
27 which shall be identified in the application with a box beside each for
28 checking, as applicable, by the applicant, shall be the same as provided
29 in paragraph (b) of this subdivision.
30 (d)] Information submitted on the forms described in paragraph (b) of
31 this subdivision shall be excepted from disclosure and maintained by the
32 entity retaining such information separate and apart from all other
33 records.
34 [(e)] (d) (i) Upon receiving a request for exception from disclosure,
35 the licensing officer shall grant such exception, unless the request is
36 determined to be null and void, pursuant to paragraph (b) [or (c)] of
37 this subdivision.
38 (ii) A request for an exception from disclosure may be submitted at
39 any time, including after a license [or recertification] has been grant-
40 ed.
41 (iii) If an exception is sought and granted pursuant to paragraph (b)
42 of this subdivision, the application information shall not be public
43 record, unless the request is determined to be null and void. [If an
44 exception is sought and granted pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subdi-
45 vision, the information concerning such recertification application
46 shall not be public record, unless the request is determined to be null
47 and void.] Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subpara-
48 graph, local and state law enforcement shall, upon request, be granted
49 access to and copies of such application information provided that such
50 information obtained by law enforcement pursuant to this subparagraph
51 shall not be considered a public record of such law enforcement agency.
52 [(f)] (e) The information of licensees or applicants for a license
53 shall not be disclosed to the public during the first one hundred twenty
54 days following the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two
55 thousand thirteen, which amended this section. After such period, the
56 information of those who had applied for or been granted a license prior
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1 to the preparation of the form for requesting an exception, pursuant to
2 paragraph (b) of this subdivision, may be released only if such individ-
3 uals did not file a request for such an exception during the first sixty
4 days following such preparation; provided, however, that no information
5 contained in an application for licensure [or recertification] shall be
6 disclosed by an entity that has not completed processing any such
7 requests received during such sixty days.
8 [(g)] (f) If a request for an exception is determined to be null and
9 void pursuant to paragraph (b) [or (c)] of this subdivision, an appli-
10 cant may request review of such determination pursuant to article seven-
11 ty-eight of the civil practice [laws] law and rules. Such proceeding
12 must commence within thirty days after service of the written notice
13 containing the adverse determination. Notice of the right to commence
14 such a petition, and the time period therefor, shall be included in the
15 notice of the determination. Disclosure following such a petition shall
16 not be made prior to the disposition of such review.
17 § 2. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subdivision 10 of section 400.00
18 of the penal law, paragraph (a) as amended and paragraph (b) as added by
19 chapter 1 of the laws of 2013, and paragraph (c) as added by chapter 212
20 of the laws of 2022, are amended by to read as follows:
21 (a) Any license for gunsmith or dealer in firearms and, in the city of
22 New York, any license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver, issued
23 at any time pursuant to this section or prior to the first day of July,
24 nineteen hundred sixty-three and not limited to expire on an earlier
25 date fixed in the license, shall expire not more than three years after
26 the date of issuance. [In the counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westches-
27 ter] Elsewhere than the city of New York, any license to carry or
28 possess a pistol or revolver, issued at any time pursuant to this
29 section or prior to the first day of July, nineteen hundred sixty-three
30 and not limited to expire on an earlier date fixed in the license, shall
31 expire not more than five years after the date of issuance[; however, in
32 the county of Westchester, any such license shall be certified prior to
33 the first day of April, two thousand, in accordance with a schedule to
34 be contained in regulations promulgated by the commissioner of the divi-
35 sion of criminal justice services, and every such license shall be
36 recertified every five years thereafter. For purposes of this section
37 certification shall mean that the licensee shall provide to the licens-
38 ing officer the following information only: current name, date of
39 birth, current address, and the make, model, caliber and serial number
40 of all firearms currently possessed]. [Such certification information
41 shall be filed by the licensing officer in the same manner as an amend-
42 ment. Elsewhere than in the city of New York and the counties of Nassau,
43 Suffolk and Westchester, any] Any license to carry or possess a pistol
44 or revolver, issued at any time pursuant to this section or prior to the
45 first day of July, nineteen hundred sixty-three and not previously
46 revoked or cancelled, shall be in force and effect until revoked as
47 herein provided. Any license not previously cancelled or revoked shall
48 remain in full force and effect for thirty days beyond the stated expi-
49 ration date on such license. Any application to renew a license that has
50 not previously expired, been revoked or cancelled shall thereby extend
51 the term of the license until disposition of the application by the
52 licensing officer. In the case of a license for gunsmith or dealer in
53 firearms, in counties having a population of less than two hundred thou-
54 sand inhabitants, photographs and fingerprints shall be submitted on
55 original applications and upon renewal thereafter only at six year
56 intervals. Upon satisfactory proof that a currently valid original
A. 10632 4
1 license has been despoiled, lost or otherwise removed from the
2 possession of the licensee and upon application containing an additional
3 photograph of the licensee, the licensing officer shall issue a dupli-
4 cate license.
5 (b) [All licensees shall be recertified to the division of state
6 police every five years thereafter. Any license issued before the effec-
7 tive date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand thirteen which
8 added this paragraph shall be recertified by the licensee on or before
9 January thirty-first, two thousand eighteen, and not less than one year
10 prior to such date, the state police shall send a notice to all license
11 holders who have not recertified by such time. Such recertification
12 shall be in a form as approved by the superintendent of state police,
13 which shall request the license holder's name, date of birth, gender,
14 race, residential address, social security number, firearms possessed by
15 such license holder, email address at the option of the license holder
16 and an affirmation that such license holder is not prohibited from
17 possessing firearms. The form may be in an electronic form if so desig-
18 nated by the superintendent of state police] Elsewhere than in the city
19 of New York, a license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver shall be
20 renewed to the division of state police every five years following the
21 issuance of such license. Failure to [recertify] renew shall act as a
22 revocation of such license[. If the New York state police discover as a
23 result of the recertification process that a licensee failed to provide
24 a change of address, the New York state police shall not require the
25 licensing officer to revoke such license].
26 (c) A license to purchase or take possession of a semiautomatic rifle
27 as defined in subdivision two of this section shall be [recertified]
28 renewed to the applicable licensing officer every five years following
29 the issuance of such license. Failure to renew such a license shall be a
30 violation punishable by a fine not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars,
31 and such failure to renew shall be considered by the licensing officer
32 when reviewing future license applications by the license holder pursu-
33 ant to this chapter.
34 § 3. This act shall take effect ninety days after it shall have become
35 a law and shall apply to renewal forms submitted on and after such date;
36 provided, however, that the amendments to paragraph (c) of subdivision
37 10 of section 400.00 of the penal law made by section two of this act
38 shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as chapter 212
39 of the laws of 2022, takes effect.