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Upcoming deadline to recertify pistol permits causes confusion

Dennis van Zuijlekom
/
via Flickr
A provision in the SAFE Act requires pistol permit holders to recertify every five years.

By the end of next month, New York State residents that were issued pistol permits before January 2013 will have to recertify their permits with state police. The provision, which is part of the state’s 2013 SAFE Act, has caused confusion among local residents.

Oswego County Clerk Mike Backus said every day, his office receives calls or people come in and ask about the deadline to recertify pistol permits.

“We've had a significant amount of people that have called confused about this, unsure of what they need to do,” Backus said. "We’re happy to answer any of those questions that we can and direct folks. We can’t do the recertification for them and we can’t process that here in my office. All of that has to be done through the state police."

Backus said residents can recertify online through the state police website or his office can print out the paperwork to be mailed in. He said he has been trying to get the word out on social media, in press releases and by doing interviews. He said it would help if the state gave resources to advertise the upcoming deadline. Failure to recertify means a pistol permit could be revoked.

"Who does that revocation, how that takes place, what due process is in order, none of that is delineated out and to my knowledge hasn’t been put forward to me or my office," Backus said. "People need to do this process. It has to be done by January 31 of 2018, because we are very concerned about it."

Backus estimates there are around 15,000 pistol permit holders in Oswego County but only 4,000 of them have recertified so far. Residents who were issued a permit after January 2013, have five years from that date to recertify.

Tom Magnarelli is a reporter covering the central New York and Syracuse area. He joined WRVO as a freelance reporter in 2012 while a student at Syracuse University and was hired full time in 2015. He has reported extensively on politics, education, arts and culture and other issues around central New York.