I know I heard of at least one county that did this.  They would issue coupons ahead of time so that one could process a pistol sale completely at a gun show.  I'm looking for more info on that process, if it still exists, can it be done in a county different from your own, etc.  

Looks like we're going to have a R primary for Sheriff this year, and both candidates have listed the pistol permit process as a campaign item, so I want to be able to ask them both what their thoughts are on this along with some other items.

Cortland and Schuyler

Onondaga sets up a table the Syracuse gun show to process purchases on site.

Would a Cortland resident be able to use one of their coupons in another county?

I don't see why not. I'm in Tompkins and my Cortland people usually come for transfers with coupon in hand

Forgive my ignorance, this method is totally foreign to me, but I want to try to understand it as much as possible.  Do I have the basic process right?

1. Go to PP place (Sheriff/Police/County) and request/get X amount of pre authorized purchase coupons.
2. Go to show/store in ANY county in NY, purchase pistol, give dealer your coupon, walk out with pistol.
3. Go back to PP place to have permit updated?  How are you legal with that pistol in the interim?  Would the dealer maybe note on the receipt "Purchased with coupon #XXXX on permit #XXXX" until you update your permit?  You have X amount of days to update it and you have to carry the receipt with the pistol until then maybe?

I can see how this was easier when we had paper permits, but now that we're on to the plastic cards (in my county), I'm not sure how this system could work.

Edit:  My county has given me a coupon for a transfer in the past (maybe in error) before I ever went to the transferring FFL to pick it up.  All I did was bring them a printed receipt from the online store, though I did have to email them for the serial #.  

I think Otsego lets you get 3 blank coupons a month still? I remember guys in the 1990s buying pistols because their $2 coupon was going to "expire". ??

Going by the letter of the statute, you have ten days in which to add or remove a handgun to/from the permit. Many counties will not let you take possession of the handgun without it already being added to your permit ( as in Tompkins ). Thats a self-made rule that has no basis in state law. Here in Tompkins I email a PDF form to the customer once the gun is here; they print that out and take it to the pistol permit window to get their coupon. Every county does things differently from that basic format. Some counties still require the permit holder to schedule an appointment to get their coupon, others are walk-up. For a while here in Tompkins the judges were instituting a waiting period to get your coupon because they claimed there were people with disqualifying convictions who still possessed their permit. That foolishness went away a few years ago.
Cortland and some of the other counties actually follow the letter of the statute and will preload you with a purchase coupon. If I have a Cortland County customer they bring their coupon to the transfer, and I print out the same form I email to the Tompkins people so the Cortland buyer can add the gun to their permit once they get home.

I understand that some counties will preload you with a single coupon when the permit is issued. Others, I also understand, wont issue you a permit unless you have an actual handgun purchased and waiting to be picked up. It's amazing to me how different counties tweak the basic state statute to their own liking.

Yep



That's correct. I guess I'm not sure what would happen if you were stopped in the interim period when the gun wasn't actually on your permit card but Cortland has been doing this for years.

Thanks everyone.   I think I have a beginner basic grasp on it enough to approach the topic with the candidates.

I think you can still do that in Otsego. Haven’t bought a pistol in a few years but been thinking about picking up a couple before we get microstamping.