A concerned viewer contacted 2 On Your Side saying that the NYS Pistol Permit Re-certification website wasn't showing the status of his mailed-in paper application.
He claims he called State Police who confirmed there is a considerable backlog and that some paperwork has been lost.
We looked into it and here's what we found out from New York State Police:
As of Friday (2/16), there were 307,000 re-certifications filed (this does not include numbers from Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties - as well as the 5 boroughs of New York City because they already have existing renewal and re-certification requirements).
About 50,000 of those filings came through the mail. Because of the large number of mailed in filings, we're told the NYSP Pistol Permit Bureau estimates it could be a year before all the paperwork is processed and the database is complete.
They don't believe any filings were lost in the process.
New York State Police tells 2 On Your Side all of the re-certification applications have been mailed to the Pistol Permit Bureau in Albany - and they're taking care of all the processing at that central location.
If you mailed in your re-certification application and don't see your status updated online yet, we're told you should not re-submit another application either online or by mail.
If you missed the January 31 deadline, you can still submit your re-certification application online or in the mail.
This is a rolling re-certification process. The January 31 deadline was the first deadline for people who were issued their permits before 2013. People who got their permits after January 2013 must re-certify by the five-year anniversary of their permit issuance.
The NYSP Director of Public Information assures 2 On Your Side there will be no permit enforcement while the re-certification process is underway. NYSP will not be issuing new permits as part of this re-certification process. If you are asked, you should show your existing permit.