ROCHESTER, N.Y. — More than 900 people have signed up for a gun safety course being held at Kodak Center this weekend. 

New York State recently changed the requirements for people applying for a pistol permit.  You now need to take 18 hours of training before you can even fill out the application for a new permit.  The problem is, there are only so many qualified firearms instructors and many of the classes fill up within minutes. 

Brandon Lewis owns The Firing Pin in Bergen. He’s been getting a lot of calls from people who want to apply for a permit but can’t find the training they need.

“It’s an 18-hour course which generally costs about $400 and it’s a huge financial burden for most people,” explains Lewis. “So, you not only have to take that course but you still have to get digitally fingerprinted, which runs over $100; you have to fill out the application, you have to get references, you have to submit everything and then you still are waiting six months or more to get your permit.”

It’s a lot and not everyone can afford it. “Those who can’t are being excluded from a constitutionally protected activity,” Lewis says. 

That’s why he partnered with the Rochester African American Firearms Association to host an eight-hour training course on Sunday at Kodak Center. The training is free; participants just have to pay $15 for a boxed lunch. 

Sunday’s training session will satisfy the classroom portion of the requirement, but participants will still need to complete the additional 10 hours of hands-on, live-fire training.  The rest of the class will be offered at a discounted rate of $199 per student. “We have 900 students registered right now,” Lewis says, “I never expected that many.”

Monroe County Clerk Jamie Romeo is tasked with processing pistol permit applications. “We’ve definitely see a slowing of the applicant process,” she says.  Like Lewis, she believes it’s because of the time and money people have to spend before they can even apply. “I think a lot of people are very supportive of the training, the live-fire and the classroom training but the cost of that I think, has now created another barrier to access this process.

The clerk says her staff is ready for a possible influx of applications from people who are still working through the prerequisites. 

For more information about this weekend’s training and/or to sign-up: https://store.nytfp.com/in-store/services-5358/tfps-nys-required-18-hour-class-4710116

Other local firearm safety training options:

-Rochester Personal Defense: https://safeinrochester.com/

-Alpha CCW Training: https://scsconsultingllc.com/

-On Target Firearms: https://ontargetfirearmsrochester.com/