ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The latest restrictions on those who have concealed carry weapon permits take effect on Sept. 1 — but there are many questions from people applying for a permit, current permit holders and those tasked with processing the applications.

What You Need To Know

  • County clerks across New York state are talking about the feasibility of meeting the requirements of the concealed carry mandates
  • In Monroe County, the clerk’s office is swamped with calls from people trying to understand the details behind the legislation coming out of Gov. Hochul’s extraordinary session requiring changes to the permit process
  • Monroe County Clerk Jamie Romeo says county clerks are all going to need a little bit more financial support to have the staff to manage the increased workload

County clerks across the state are talking about the feasibility of making it all happen.

In Monroe County, the clerk’s office is swamped with calls from people trying to understand the details behind the legislation coming out of Gov. Hochul’s extraordinary session requiring changes to the permit process.

“We're definitely getting lots of calls,” said Monroe County Clerk Jamie Romeo. “We still do get lots of calls and questions from a number of different avenues.”

The problem is, that Romeo and her team don’t have the answers yet.

“We have a lot of questions and there's a lot of very specific questions regarding how it might apply to individual permits, and we try our best to answer a lot of those questions,” said Romeo. “Unfortunately, as with I think the rest of the state, a lot of these things we don't have the answers for.”

Romeo says people are trying to get their applications in before the Sept. 1 deadline, but that may not make a difference.

“The way that the law is written, the new training requirements, some of the re-certification training, the live fire proficiencies, right now, those things will still be required of all pistol permit holders even if it was issued prior to that September 1 date,” Romeo said.

The additional requirements are placing a burden on county clerks offices throughout the state because many of them don’t have the staff to handle to extra paperwork that is required by these mandates.

Romeo is part of the Statewide County Clerk's Association and is one of the co-chairs of its Pistol Permit Committee. County clerks across the state are coordinating and talking through the process.

“There's a lot more paperwork we're expecting to come in from our clerk's office perspective,” said Romeo. “But I would think that probably through the courts, local law enforcement and also county clerks are all going to need a little bit more financial support to be able to have the staff to be able to handle this increased workload. And that's not something that was necessarily addressed in this legislation. Who's going to help pay for some of these costs to expand and increase our staff and capacities? Because that's the only way you can make this work, is if you have the staff and the facilities to be able to do everything to meet these objectives.”

For now, the county clerk in Monroe County advises people seeking a pistol permit to apply under the current rules but to understand that requirements may change.

“This is one of the areas of where we, at the end of the day, are asking everyone to remember that we're all in the same boat,” said Romeo. “We're all trying to figure this out together.”

And once it is figured out, the rules may change again, depending on the results of litigation fighting the regulations.