New York Gun Laws: A Plain-English Guide for 2026

New York regulates firearms more closely than most states, and the rules are not intuitive if you have bought guns elsewhere. The two facts that surprise people most are that you need a license simply to possess a handgun, and that ammunition cannot be mailed to your door. This guide walks through the system as it stands in September 2026. It is general information, not legal advice. The controlling text is in Article 265 and Article 400 of the New York Penal Law, and the New York State Police publish the forms and the background check system.

Handguns: a license to possess, not just to carry

Under Penal Law section 400.00 you must hold a pistol license before you may possess a pistol or revolver anywhere in New York. There is no version of this where you buy first and sort the paperwork out later. The license is issued by a licensing officer, defined in Penal Law section 265.00(10). Outside a few downstate counties that officer is a judge or justice of a court of record in your county, and the county clerk or the sheriff's pistol permit office handles the filing. In New York City the licensing officer is the police commissioner, in Nassau County the county police commissioner, and in Suffolk County the sheriff except in the towns of Babylon, Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip and Smithtown, where it is the county police commissioner.

Applicants must be 21 or older, with a narrow exception for honorably discharged members of the armed forces. Licenses come in types: a premises license for a home or business, and carry licenses that allow you to have the handgun on you. A New York pistol license also lists the specific handguns it covers by make, model, caliber and serial number, and you apply to amend the license when you acquire another one. Practice differs from county to county on whether the amendment has to be done before or after the transfer, so ask your licensing officer before you order from our online shop.

The semiautomatic rifle license

Since September 4, 2022, New York requires a separate semiautomatic rifle license to purchase or take possession of a semiautomatic rifle. The minimum age is 21. People who already lawfully owned a semiautomatic rifle before that date were not required to get one. The license is applied for on the same New York State Police form as a pistol license, PPB-3, and goes to the same licensing officer. If you are ordering a semiautomatic rifle, have that license in hand first.

Other rifles and shotguns, meaning bolt, lever, pump and break actions, need no state license outside New York City. Inside the city the police department issues a separate rifle and shotgun permit, and you need it before you may possess a long gun there at all.

The SAFE Act: assault weapons and magazines

The 2013 SAFE Act rewrote Penal Law section 265.00(22) into a one-feature test. A semiautomatic rifle that can accept a detachable magazine is an assault weapon in New York if it also has any one of a folding or telescoping stock, a pistol grip that protrudes below the action, a thumbhole stock, a second handgrip, a bayonet mount, a flash suppressor or muzzle brake, or a grenade launcher. Parallel tests apply to semiautomatic shotguns and semiautomatic pistols. Assault weapons lawfully owned before January 15, 2013 had to be registered with the State Police, and that registration is recertified on a cycle; new ones cannot be sold into the state. Rifles built in New York-compliant configurations, without the listed features, are legal.

New York also caps magazines at ten rounds. A magazine that holds, or can be readily restored to hold, more than ten rounds is a large capacity ammunition feeding device under Penal Law section 265.00(23). Narrow exceptions exist for tubular .22 rimfire devices and certain registered curio and relic magazines. Anything we ship into New York is configured for the ten-round limit.

How buying online into New York actually works

Every firearm ships to a licensed dealer, an FFL, that you choose in New York. You never receive a gun in the mail. At the dealer you show ID and, for a handgun, your pistol license; for a semiautomatic rifle, your semiautomatic rifle license. You complete the federal ATF Form 4473 and the dealer runs the check through the New York State Police, which has been the point of contact for firearm and ammunition checks since September 2023. The state charges a $9 fee for a firearm background check.

New York has no general waiting period, but it has closed the federal default-proceed window. A dealer may not hand over the gun on the third business day. The dealer must have a proceed response, or thirty calendar days must pass from the request with no denial. Delays happen, so do not plan a hunt around a pickup date.

Private sales, storage and transport

Private sales of firearms, rifles and shotguns must go through a licensed dealer for a background check under General Business Law section 898, with a fee capped at ten dollars. Sales between spouses, domestic partners, children and stepchildren are exempt.

New York has a safe storage law. If you live with anyone under 18, or with a person barred from possessing firearms, guns must be kept with a secure locking device or in a locked container when not in your immediate possession. Since September 2022 a firearm left in an unattended vehicle must be unloaded and locked in a fire, impact and tamper resistant depository. Transport of a licensed handgun outside the terms of your license is its own offense, so read the endorsements on the license itself.

Where to go next

The carry license process, the training requirement and the sensitive locations rules are covered in our New York pistol permit and carry license guide. Ammunition has its own rules, set out in the New York ammunition background check guide. If you hunt, start with the New York deer season guide and the county implement rules in choosing a deer rifle for New York. You can browse what ships to a New York FFL in the gun shop.

General information, not legal advice. Current as of September 2026. Laws change; check the official source before you act.