If you can remember back to this post, I was and am in the process of getting legal with the Empire State with respect to items that go BLAM!  A bit more than a year ago, I received permission from his most gracious and beneficent judge of Saratoga County to take possession and assume actual physical control of a handgun.  A (as in singular) handgun (a 1965 Ruger Standard with a 6″ barrel).

Ruger Mark I with a 6" barrel

There are many like it, but this one is MINE.

Since that time, I have amended that license a few times, paying $3 each time I had enough money lying around to add to the collection.   This license didn’t allow me to defend myself with it, that would still be very illegal.  But having had it for a year, and only having put holes in non-human objects I am now permitted to shell out another $200, spend another day in class and then re-apply to be granted such permissions as stopping for gasoline or lunch on the way to and/or from a gun range.

Why does this class cost $200?  Well first of all it can be.  Regulatory capture and all that.  But adding to that cost is undoubtedly this (underlining, bolding and italicizing in the original):

New York State Penal Law provisions including but not limited to the SAFE Act;
Article 35 (justification of the use of force); reporting requirements for the theft or
loss of a firearm or ammunition; where it is lawful to carry and possess a firearm;
and proactive awareness of surroundings, home, and car while carrying a firearm.
Classroom instruction on Penal Law Article 35 must be provided by an attorney licensed to practice in New York State.

NY looooves the shit out of its Top. Men.  So much so that it’s simultaneously trying to eradicate the NRA, but also relying on the NRA to determine when freemen can travel through the King’s Land with their weapons.

The class itself was ridonkulously basic and exactly like every other gun safety class you have ever been exposed to, with the one exception of the Article 35 review mentioned above.  That part was given by a lawyer that happened to be the club’s treasurer and gave off a whiff of gun-nuttery.  He was a enthusiastic fanboi of Massad Ayoob and encouraged us to subscribe to Combat Handgunner and because they both had columns written by Mr. Ayoob.  This lawyer’s reasoning was that if you have a subscription to these magazines, any article in them could be presented in your defense as training as part of the “reasonable person*” defense.  I have no idea how often this works, and didn’t ask him about his success rate in actual trials.

New York’s self defense laws are pretty straightforward if you follow the logic of “you need a really good reason to kill someone,” and “you need to de-escalate.”  However, there is a fuckton of nuance and interpretation in implementation that I am sure gets abused.  New York distinguishes between “Physical Force” and “Deadly Physical force”**  Basically, you have a duty to retreat in public, but do not have a duty to put yourself at a tactical disadvantage.  You cannot use Deadly Physical Force against someone that is only using Physical Force, unless the person is in the act of committing a kidnapping, a rape, or arson.  (Yes, in NY arson is the sole exception to being able to defend property with force).  There is a “castle doctrine,” but only to the extent that “duty to retreat” does not apply within a residence that you are authorized to be in.  You still can’t shoot (or stab or club) someone who is in your house unless they are attacking you or committing one of those aforementioned crimes, supra.  You can only defend an “innocent” third party (so that White Hispanic dude with the Kel-Tec would likely have been convicted in NY).

The lawyer also did something extremely useful, which was to pass out his business card which immediately went into the wallet because it is printed thusly:  ‘

Need to get this thing laminated

The rest of the course consisted of me getting yelled at by a Range Safety Officer for not having a correct shooting grip while practice drawing a rubber Sig P220 from a provided right-handed paddle holster.  I am not right-handed.

I did not muzzle myself or anyone else during the drills. But some people become RSOs to have an excuse to yell at people I guess.

Then we went for a live-fire qualification where I shot 500/500 on an AP1 target over distances ranging from 15 yards to 3, and with times allowed ranging from “completely adequate” to “literally forever.” The fact that this was considered a notable accomplishment makes me weep, and reminds me that the NRA was founded by a bunch of Civil War veterans from New York who were appalled by their cohort’s marksmanship (or lack thereof).  Apparently nothing has changed in the last 150 years.  I then received a suitable-for-framing certificate of completion and was told the correct way to request that my permit be switched to “unrestricted.”  There isn’t actually any indication on the forms that you want to do that.  You just ask to have a duplicate permit made and the nice ladies at the Sheriff’s Office (no sarcasm this time) are supposed to telepathically determine that you want an upgrade (though I suppose the fact that you hand them your certificate should be a big hint — still, there is no official paperwork AFAICT.)  This triggers another round  of background checks with now a higher standard for acceptance (or rather a lower bar for rejection***).  Again, this standard is completely at the whim of his most gracious judicial majesty of the County of X.  A rejection at this stage is appealable, but successful appeals have never happened ever in the history of “who the fuck do you think you are peasant?”  Unlike the initial permitting process, this upgrading is supposed to happen quickly.  We shall see.

*turns in paperwork*

*waits*

 

via GIPHY

*receives phone call from Sheriff’s Office.*  Apparently when I traded in my 22/45 for my Mark IV, the gun store paperwork got the gun I was trading in and the gun I was taking home BACKWARDS.  Fortunately the sheriff isn’t arresting me.  Yet.

*waits*

via GIPHY

One week later…

“Mr. Adahn, could you come down to the Sheriff’s office on [names two days of the week] between [names a three hour window]?  You’ll need to bring your pistol license with you.”

While this might be a trap, they already know where I live and that I’m (vaguely and lightly) armed, and they haven’t sent a SWAT team after me (yet).  So I go at the next opportunity (which is 20 hours later).  The nice ladies at the Sheriff’s office take a new picture of me, have me wait while they warm up the card printer, then have me wait some more while they warm up the card laminator.  Then they hand me a card very similar to my earlier one, only this one has the picture of a less fat guy on it, has my pistols printed on it instead of being written in sharpie, and most importantly, in the lower let corner it says UNRESTRICTED.  I am now less likely to commit a felony than I was before.

I celebrate by getting a coffee and bagel at a Panera drive through (French toast with cream cheese) while having a pistol in the car.

 

*NY’s “reasonable person” definition apparently includes that a reasonable person would have the same knowledge as the defendant.  Thus if you smoke someone who has a knife that is five yards away and you have been trained on the Tuller Drill, a “reasonable person” knows that an armed attacker within seven yards presents a lethal threat.

**Kicking someone barefooted is Physical Force.  Kicking someone with a shoe on is Deadly Physical Force.

***All of the information about this unrestricted permitting process makes it very clear that they will reject your ass for a single DUI.  You even have to acknowledge this before the class begins.  During the practice session for SSRG’s multi-gun event, I talked to three members who were avid clay shooters that were denied pistol permits for that very reason, which is why the club chose the “2×4” format for the matches.  You can’t assume that a NYS resident will be able to legally complete with a pistol.