Glossary

New York firearm law uses several terms that sound interchangeable and are not. The distinctions below are the ones that decide outcomes.

CCIA
L.2022 ch. 371

The Concealed Carry Improvement Act, New York's 2022 response to the Supreme Court's decision in Bruen. It created the sensitive-location and restricted-location offences, the eighteen-hour training requirement, the four-reference and in-person interview requirements, and the three-year recertification cycle for carry licences.

Sensitive location
Penal Law §265.01-e

One of twenty enumerated categories of place where possessing a firearm is a class E felony even for a licence holder — government buildings, health care, worship, schools, parks, transit, bars, entertainment venues, polling places, protests and Times Square among them. Read the entry →

Restricted location
Penal Law §265.01-d

Private property where the owner has not affirmatively permitted firearms. Permanently enjoined as applied to property held open to the public by Christian v. James (2d Cir. 2026); still on the books as to genuinely private, non-public property. Read the entry →

Premises licence
Penal Law §400.00(2)(a)–(b)

A licence to possess a handgun at one specified location — a dwelling or a place of business. It does not authorize carrying in public. Read the entry →

Carry licence
Penal Law §400.00(2)(f)

The unrestricted licence to have and carry a handgun concealed, without regard to employment or place of possession. This is the licence the CCIA's additional requirements attach to. Read the entry →

Special Carry Licence
38 RCNY §5-23

A New York City licence that gives validity inside the five boroughs to a carry licence issued by another New York county, as required by Penal Law §400.00(6). Frequently and wrongly conflated with the state's §400.00(2)(f) licence. Read the entry →

Serious offence
Penal Law §400.00(1)(c)

A defined category of conviction — including a number of misdemeanours — that permanently disqualifies an applicant, alongside any felony conviction. Read the entry →

Good moral character
Penal Law §400.00(1)(b)

The statutory standard: having the essential character, temperament and judgment necessary to be entrusted with a weapon and to use it only in a manner that does not endanger oneself or others. Upheld against constitutional challenge in Antonyuk v. James. Read the entry →

Duly authorized instructor
Penal Law §265.00(19)

An instructor approved by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services to deliver the statutory eighteen-hour training curriculum. Read the entry →

Recertification
Penal Law §400.00(10)

A State Police process — every three years for carry licences, every five for others. Licensees in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester do not recertify with the State Police at all; they follow their county's renewal process. Read the entry →

Safe storage depository
Penal Law §265.45(3)

A fire-, impact- and tamper-resistant container in which a firearm may lawfully be secured. The statute expressly excludes glove compartments. Read the entry →

Purchase authorization
38 RCNY §5-25

Written NYPD permission a New York City licensee must obtain before taking possession of a handgun. Valid thirty days, presented to the dealer, and returned to the License Division afterward. Read the entry →

ERPO
C.P.L.R. article 63-A

An extreme risk protection order — New York's red flag order. It requires surrender of firearms and suspension or revocation of any firearm licence. Read the entry →

LEOSA
18 U.S.C. §926C

The federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, which permits a qualified retired officer meeting its conditions to carry concealed, subject to state law on where carry is prohibited. Read the entry →

FOPA / peaceable journey
18 U.S.C. §926A

The federal transport provision protecting travel with a lawfully possessed, unloaded and inaccessible firearm between two places where possession is lawful. Treated in practice as an affirmative defence rather than a bar to arrest, and no protection for a journey broken by a stopover. Read the entry →

Bruen
N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen (2022)

The Supreme Court decision striking down New York's 'proper cause' requirement and establishing the text-and-historical-tradition test that every provision on this site has since been litigated under.

Rifle and shotgun permit
NYC Admin. Code §10-303

A separate NYPD permit required to possess or purchase a long gun in New York City. Three-year term, subject to automatic renewal. No equivalent exists elsewhere in New York State. Read the entry →

Semiautomatic rifle licence
Penal Law §400.00(2), unlettered paragraph

A state licence required to purchase or take ownership of a semiautomatic rifle on or after the 2022 effective date. Commonly miscited to §400.00(16-a), which is actually SAFE Act assault-weapon registration. Read the entry →