NEW YORK STATE PISTOL LICENSING – PRIOR REVOCATION FOR LACK OF NECESSARY CHARACTER DOES NOT BAR SUBSEQUENT APPLICATION. ONLY REVOCATIONS PURSUANT TO CPL § 530.14 or FAM. CT. ACT § 894-a BAR SUBSEQUENT APPLICATIONS. Matter of Romanoff v. Kelly, 23 A.

Eligibility requirements for the issuance of a pistol license in New York are set forth in Penal Law §400.00(1). Briefly, an applicant must (1) be twenty-one years of age; (2) of good moral character; (3) have not been convicted of a felony or serious offense; (4) state whether he has ever suffered from mental illness or been confined to an institution for mental illness; and (5) not had a pistol license revoked or who is not under a suspension or ineligibility order issued pursuant to CPL 530.14 or Fam. Ct. Act 894-a.
The issue is; does a failure to satisfy any of the above eligibility requirements act as a permanent bar to licensure? The question must be answered in the negative. Peter Tilem, a partner with Tilem & Campbell, is currently challenging a Westchester County Licensing Officer’s denial of an application because the applicant had a prior revocation based upon a lack of necessary character and judgment. The Licensing Officer denied the application solely because the applicant had a prior revocation without regard for the basis of that revocation.
The licensing officer that originally revoked the applicant’s license had found that he lacked the character and judgment to possess a pistol license. The revocation was not related to an order of protection and was not made pursuant to CPL §530.14 or Fam. Ct. Act §842-a but instead was made pursuant to Penal Law 400.00(11) for a lack of character. This is important because only revocations pursuant to CPL §530.14 or Fam. Ct. Act §842-a can act as a permanent bar. However, revocations based upon a lack of character and judgment are not permanent bars to re-licensure.
The First Department addressed this issue in Matter of Romanoff v. Kelly, 23 A.D.3d 212 (1st Dept. 2005) where it held that only revocations pursuant to CPL §530.14 or Fam. Ct. Act
§842-a could act as a permanent bar to re-licensure.
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