⁠Westchester County Application Guide

In Westchester County, the licensing officers are judges or justices of the Supreme or County Court. The Westchester County Department of Public Safety Pistol License Unit fingerprints and interviews applicants and does the background investigation. The Westchester County Clerk issues the license and keeps the records.

Carry licenses issued by Westchester County are valid for three years and then must be recertified (renewed) with the County Clerk.

This guide follows the county's official pages and its Pistol License Safety and Information Handbook (dated August 2026), and adds tips from users on the chats and online forums. Those tips are labeled as experience, not official rules.

Checked Nov 2, 2026 from the official pages: the Westchester County Department of Public Safety Pistol License Unit page, the Westchester County Clerk Pistol Licenses page, and the county handbook. For more information click here⁠

• Training (carry license): an in-person 18-hour firearms safety and use course, 16 hours of classroom plus 2 hours of live fire, with a certificate in your name signed under penalty of perjury by an authorized instructor (Penal Law § 400.00(19)). The handbook says online courses do not count. For a premises license, the county page asks for the NRA basic safety course.

• Four character references. They must not be related to you by blood or marriage, no two can be from the same family or household, and each should have known you for a reasonably long time. The reference forms are notarized.

• Household information (carry license): the names of your spouse or domestic partner and of all adults and children living with you, plus any other information the licensing officer asks for.

Bring to your appointment (county submitting instructions):

1. Your New York State driver license or non-driver ID, showing your current address.

2. Your birth certificate or U.S. passport. Naturalized citizens: Naturalization Certificate. Permanent residents: Alien Registration (green) card.

3. Two recent passport-size photos (2 x 2 inches, no glasses or hat). The photos can be taken at the County Clerk's Office for a fee.

4. Proof of residence in your name: voter registration or a utility bill. If the bill is not in your name, bring the Proof of Residency Not in Your Name form, signed and notarized by the person on the bill, with a copy of their bill.

5. Your 18-hour training certificate.

6. Form PPB-3 (two originals) and all the forms from Step 1.

Have all your documents notarized before your appointment.

⁠For more information click here

1. Review your application and attachments for completeness.

2. Call the Pistol License Unit at (914) 995-2709 to schedule your appointment to submit the application, be fingerprinted and be interviewed.

3. Appointments are made only by calling Public Safety. The County Clerk's Office cannot schedule them.

4. Appointment dates are reported to be far in the future right now. See After You Apply and Wait Times below.

For more information click here⁠

• At your appointment at the Pistol License Unit in White Plains, you hand in the application, pay the fees, are fingerprinted and are interviewed. The background investigation then begins.

• The background check is fingerprint-based and/or name-based, through the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, the FBI, the New York State Police and local agencies. It includes cases that were dismissed, sealed or Youthful Offender.

• The criminal background check fee is paid by money order only, payable to the County of Westchester. The other fees go to the Westchester County Clerk. All fees are paid at submission and are non-refundable (see Fees).

⁠For more information click here

• Criminal background check (fingerprints): $90 (*), money order only, payable to the County of Westchester.

• Processing fee, new application: $175, payable to the Westchester County Clerk.

• Recertification (renewal): $175.

• Amendment for a restriction change: $125.

• Other amendments (add or remove a gun, change of address or employer): $25.

• Duplicate, lost or damaged license: $5.

• Transfer to or from another county: $5 x 2.

(*) The county's submitting instructions list $90. The August 2026 handbook lists $87. Bring the amount the Pistol License Unit confirms when you book.

County Clerk fees can be paid by cash or credit card in the office, or by check or money order by mail. All fees are non-refundable. The processing and recertification fees are waived for qualified retired police officers, uniformed court officers and certain others listed in Penal Law § 400.00(14).

For more information click here⁠

• When the investigation is done, Public Safety sends your application to the County Clerk, and the Clerk delivers it to the Court. A Supreme or County Court judge decides whether the license is issued.

• If you are denied, the Court notifies you. If you are approved, the County Clerk notifies you. You then go to the Clerk's Office to have your photo taken and your signature captured, and the license is printed and issued on the spot.

• Under state law, the licensing officer must act on the application within six months of when it is presented, except for good cause (Penal Law § 400.00(4-b)). That clock starts when the application is handed in, not when you first call.

• Reported wait times: a USA Carry news report (October 8, 2026) described one applicant whose first appointment came 7 months after he called, with about 10 months from start to finish (2023 to 2024). A friend of his who called in late August 2026 was given a submission date of August 10, 2027.

  For more information click here⁠

• To buy a handgun after approval, it must be added to your license: an amendment on the state amendment form (PPB-5), sent to the County Clerk with the $25 fee.

  For more information click here⁠

• Westchester carry licenses expire and must be recertified every 3 years (premises licenses every 5 years). The date is printed on the front of your license. You recertify with the Westchester County Clerk.

• Send the Pistol License Recertification Form (one original signed form) with the $175 fee to the County Clerk, Licensing Division, Room 340. The handbook asks you to send it no more than 120 days and no less than 90 days before the expiration date.

• To renew a full carry license, you must take the 18-hour course again with a Westchester County sanctioned program.

• A license that is not recertified within 30 days of its expiration date is invalid. If yours has been expired for 30 days or longer, the Clerk asks for two original recertification forms, the supplemental forms, an explanation of why it is late, and the $175 fee.

⁠For more information click here

Westchester County Department of Public Safety, Pistol License Unit
110 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room 340-A, White Plains, NY 10601
Phone: (914) 995-2709 (appointments and application status)

Westchester County Clerk, Licensing Division
110 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room 340, White Plains, NY 10601
Phone: (914) 995-3088 (issued licenses, amendments, recertification)

Office of the Administrative Judge, Ninth Judicial District
Phone: 914-824-5100 (the handbook lists it for questions about the status of an application)

For more information click here⁠

Want to carry in other states too? See Out of State Non-Resident Permits.