New York Orange County Sheriff’s Office Resumes Pistol Permit Classes

A handgun on display at the Gun Lady store in downtown Port Jervis, N.Y., on Oct. 10, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

After a month-long pause following new state gun laws, Orange County Sheriff’s Office resumed training classes for pistol permits in Goshen, New York, on Oct. 11.

About 25 applicants will attend the classes every month, according to Undersheriff Kenneth Jones.

Under the state’s new concealed carry law, each permit applicant must finish a 16-hour classroom training plus a 2-hour live-fire class provided by authorized instructors.

After the new requirement took effect in early September, the sheriff’s office paused training to update courses.

Orange County Sheriff’s Office. (Courtesy of Orange County Sheriff’s Office)

Fingerprinting at the office was also suspended at the same time and resumed on Oct. 1.

Appointments for fingerprinting are booked through January, including backlogs accumulated during the past month and new applications that keep rolling in, Jones told The Epoch Times.

The current pistol permit application procedure includes fingerprinting, completion of mandatory training courses, and submission of a set of forms disclosing personal information, such as an affidavit that lists out all personal social media accounts.

After the sheriff’s office signs off on an application, a county court judge will make the final decision.

Adapting to New Laws

Maria Mann, an authorized instructor in Port Jervis, started teaching pistol permit courses in compliance with the new law days ago.

Pistol permit applicants can go to any authorized instructor for courses, not just limited to those at the sheriff’s office.

Maria Mann at the Gun Lady store in downtown Port Jervis, N.Y., on Oct. 10, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

“I think more training requirement is a good thing, but there are other parts in the law that I don’t agree with, such as the part about business signs,” Mann told The Epoch Times.

According to the new law, concealed carry is considered forbidden on business premises unless owners explicitly put out signs allowing it.

“You are putting business owners in an uncomfortable situation, whether they welcome lawful concealed carry or not. People have different views. Some might say, ‘I don’t like guns, and that store has a sign on their door that they welcome concealed carry. I’m not going near that store,’” she said.

Even though Mann is not a lawyer, she feels she must be versed in the law as a storekeeper at a gun store.

The Gun Lady—the only gun store in Port Jervis—is primarily owned by a relative of hers.

“We need to keep up with the changes in the laws. We need to know what we are allowed to sell and what we are not allowed to sell. We must remain compliant with not only with the federal but the state laws,” she said.

The second floor of the Gun Lady store is used by Maria Mann for pistol permit courses, in Port Jervis, N.Y., on Oct. 10, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Legal Challenges

The new concealed carry law has faced a slew of legal challenges since its passage in July.

On Oct. 6, a Syracuse-based federal judge blocked the bulk of the new law—including the mandatory review of permit applicants’ social media accounts in the past three years—in response to a lawsuit questioning the law’s constitutionality by six New York residents.

The state appealed the judge’s order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Oct. 10.

Jones said if the circuit court upheld the block, his office would return social media affidavits to applicants.

New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services—the agency tasked with developing guidelines for the social media review—has yet to issue any guidance, Jones said.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional right to bear arms outside one’s home for self-protection and struck down New York’s century-old concealed carry law in a landmark ruling.

Within weeks of the ruling, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Democratic-controlled state legislature enacted a new concealed carry law with more restrictive measures, including the social media review requirements and a long list of gun-free zones, including churches, mass transit hubs, and Times Square in New York City.