Ulster County Sheriff Could Possibly Issue Pistol Permits

Ulster County Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum might be given the authority to issue pistol permits in Ulster County.

The Sheriff has been pushing for this bill to get passed for the last eight years and it was passed by the state Senate and now has to pass in the Assembly, which the Sheriff told the CJ in the Morning show is unlikely.

The bill would give the Sheriff the ability to sign pistol permits, which up until now could only be signed by a judge.

Van Blarcum told us, this will hopefully end the month long backlog of permits. He also said

It’s just a service to the taxpayers here, right now, you might wait up to a year or more to have a judge sign a pistol permit.

In a press release that announced the passing of the bill in the state Senate, Sen. John Bonacic said, "It is unacceptable that law-abiding citizens who seek to lawfully possess handguns should have to wait excessive amounts of time due to backlog, the change will expedite the permit process and not penalize individuals in Ulster County.I hope the Assembly will move quickly to pass this legislation."

The bill now has to get passed in the Assembly and be signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo for it to go into effect.