GOSHEN – The Orange County Sheriff’s Office has suspended fingerprinting for those seeking a pistol permit. The suspension is in place until further notice and is a result of the new gun laws enacted by the state legislature.
Applicants who have fully completed applications including the handgun safety certificate and have been fingerprinted must submit their applications to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on or before August 31, 2022, in order to be processed.
According to Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois, “The licensing authorities in Orange County have advised this (his) office that they cannot sign off on applications without a social media check of the applicant and proof of training as required by the new law.”
In a notice posted on the sheriff’s website, the sheriff said, “There have been many lawsuits filed seeking a stay of the implementation of the new gun law. If they are successful, this Office will immediately reinstate fingerprinting for gun permit applicants if the stay addresses both the social media reviews and the new training regimen. If a stay is not implemented by the court, this office will continue to cease acceptance of gun permit applications until the matter is fully resolved by the courts or the training regimen and social media reviews are available.”
Dutchess County Sheriff Kirk Imperati indicated that applications in Dutchess County are still being accepted and processed, despite the upcoming changes to the state law.
Imperati would like to reassure the Dutchess County community that the Sheriff’s Office will continue to process pistol permit applications as it always has, despite the upcoming changes.
Imperati noted that, in the future, applicants should plan for significantly increased wait times to receive a pistol permit due to state law changes; however, the sheriff’s office will do everything in its power to limit that wait time for permit candidates, Imperati said.
