You cannot buy a handgun in NY without a permit. Permits to possess a handgun at home are the most easily obtained; permits to carry concealed are harder, depending on the county. Anyone can walk into their local Malwart or Gander MOuntain and buy a shotgun or rifle, without any permit, and keep that at home.
To buy a handgun here, you go to the store, pay for it, submit to the background check, and then the store gives you a reciept, but not the gun. You then take the receipt to your local sherrif's office and they add the gun to your permit. You then go back to the store, show them your updated permit, and they allow you to take the gun home. It is an annoying system, but it satisifies someone's need for beaurocracy, and I guess it makes the anti's feel they have accomplished something. In reality, it is a minor annoyance, but once you have the system figured out, it is just something you plan on -- buy the pistol during your lucnh break, get the permit updated during the next day's lunch break and pick it up on the third day.
At one point I was working all the hours the sherrif's dept was open, so they agreed to update my permit by mail and send me the new card. They were quite accomodating. Yes, it is nice to be able to buy something and walk out of the store with it, but I think of it more like buying something by mail -- it is going to take a couple of days to arrive. Then it does. It's just the way the system works here.
And yes, it is beautiful here -- aside from their stupid need to protect me from myself, living in NY is actually pretty good, as long as you stay far from the city.
