Pistol permit requests overwhelm Niagra staff

LOCKPORT -- Since New York State enacted its new gun control law in January, Niagara County has received so many applications for new pistol permits that workers can't handle them all.

County residents have requested more pistol permits already this year than were approved in all of 2010, Deputy County Clerk Wendy J. Roberson said.

Demand has accelerated in the past several months -- since President Barack Obama's re-election last fall, then the passage of the SAFE Act in New York, county staff said.

An even bigger pile of paperwork has been created by the SAFE Act's option that allows permit holders to withhold their personal information from those who might try to seek such information through Freedom of Information Law requests. The county clerk's office has shifted two extra workers into the pistol permit office, but they can't keep up with the increased demand, Roberson said.

In 2010, the county approved 504 pistol permits. In 2011, that number grew to 631. It soared last year to 997 permits. From Jan. 1 through last Tuesday, 418 had been issued, with three stacks of applications, each a foot high, still waiting.