Has anyone had any experience getting a pistol permit in Madison County recently?  I'm trying to help out a friend and was wondering what, if anything, would help for thd concealed carry section.

[Edit] In case you haven't inferred from my other post this is in relation to ARTraffic's death.  His wife was in the process of filling out her pistol permit paperwork when he unexpectedly died.

I applied for my permit back in 2011-2012 so my information is probably a bit dated.  I believe the new/current Sheriff is Ok but I am not sure about the new county judges. I believe they are both Republicans, for what it is worth.

Madison County has been traditionally easier to get a pistol permit approved than in it's neighboring counties: Oneida and Onondaga.
If I recall, they required the applicant to sign a release of information for background checks for criminal, psych and medical history.

I was required to get 4 non-relative character references (I supplied the name and addresses and they sent them a packet to complete). Ask other people who are also pro-2A.  I asked a former neighbor, who is very sweet lady and was a great neighbor when we were just starting out with a new (to us) home and little kids, and she looked genuinely concerned, "Oh, honey, why would you want a gun?"  Needless to say I did not list her as one of references.

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I knew some of the clerks at the Sheriff's dept. who were immensely helpful.
At the time I was told that in the section where they asked why I felt I needed a pistol permit I should NOT write "for self-defense."
You could write: for target practice, hunting, sport shooting and for all legal purposes.

Someone also advised that if I dealt with large quantities of cash or other valuables (jewelry) I should list that as well.
Well, it so happened that I worked at a physicians' office and we would make nightly deposits at the bank of cash receipts.  I knew I would have to sign an affidavit stating that everything on the application was true, so for a month I month the deposits myself in order to list that as a justifiable reason.

Finally, another reason that I listed was the my brother was NYPD and a hunter.  He has several firearms and neither his wife nor small kids would be able to keep his guns if, God forbid, something were to happen to him on the job.

It can take months to hear if you're approved or not.  Oftentimes, the permit is approved with restrictions.  That isn't always the end of it. If your friend can show that she has taken some basic training courses, has kept her nose clean, not had any accidents and has not run afoul of the law for at least a year after she is approved, she can write a letter to the judge to ask for the restrictions to be removed.  Some instructors will also offer a template of such a letter when you take their course.

Thanks man!!!

Really? My uncle must have really fucked up then... He lives in Chittenango and his permit had so many weird restrictions, He had to lock his pistol unloaded in the trunk in a case where he couldn't easily access it while driving, and store his ammo in a separate locked container, It was odd when he would show up to our house to shoot his S&W 442 or 41 or whatever one those weird looking .22 autos and have to take out like 2 cases and unlock them and load up his mags to shoot.

I had restrictions in Oswego county at first, but I got unrestricted after having it without incident for a few years and writing a letter to the judge.