New York SAFE Act: Assault Weapons, Permits, and Penalties

The New York SAFE Act requirements and penalties reach nearly every part of gun ownership in the state: what firearms you can own, how many rounds your magazines can hold, how you store your guns, how sales and ammunition purchases are processed, when your pistol permit must be recertified, and when a mental health professional must flag you to authorities. Violations run from a low-level violation for a storage lapse up to a Class D felony carrying as much as seven years in prison. Since the law took effect on January 15, 2013, court rulings and follow-on legislation, notably the 2019 red flag law and the 2022 Concealed Carry Improvement Act, have reshaped how several provisions actually apply today.¹

What Counts as an Assault Weapon

The SAFE Act expanded New York’s assault weapon definition to a single-feature test. Before 2013, a semi-automatic rifle needed two military-style features to qualify. Now, one is enough. A semi-automatic rifle or pistol with a detachable magazine is an assault weapon if it has any one of the following: a folding or telescoping stock, a protruding pistol grip, a thumbhole stock, a second handgrip usable by the non-shooting hand, a bayonet mount, a flash suppressor, a muzzle brake or compensator, a threaded barrel designed to accept those muzzle devices, or a grenade launcher.² Semi-automatic shotguns with one military-style feature also qualify.¹

If you legally owned a firearm that became an assault weapon under the new definition, you were required to register it with the State Police within one year and recertify every five years. Selling or transferring an unregistered assault weapon inside New York is prohibited. Antique firearms manufactured more than 50 years ago are exempt from many restrictions, but if the firearm meets the assault weapon definition or accepts a magazine holding more than ten rounds, it still must be registered.³

Magazine Rules

New York has banned the sale of magazines holding more than ten rounds since 1994, and the SAFE Act preserved that cap. You can buy, sell, and possess any magazine holding up to ten rounds regardless of manufacture date. Owners of larger-capacity magazines had until January 15, 2014, to permanently modify them to ten rounds or fewer, turn them in to law enforcement, sell them to a dealer, or transfer them out of state.³

The original law also barred loading more than seven rounds into a ten-round magazine. That load limit is no longer enforceable. In 2015, the Second Circuit struck it down, leaving the enforceable capacity ceiling at ten rounds.⁴ Hunters face a stricter limit under separate rules: you generally cannot hunt with a semi-automatic gun capable of holding more than six rounds, with narrow exceptions for certain rimfire calibers and short-barreled pistols.³

Background Checks on Every Sale

Private firearm sales in New York must go through a licensed dealer, who runs the background check and records the transaction. The private seller can charge a transfer fee of up to $10. Transfers between immediate family members are exempt.⁵

Since September 2023, New York runs background checks through its own State Point of Contact rather than sending them directly to the federal NICS. The buyer pays $9 for a firearm check and $2.50 for an ammunition check at the point of sale.⁶

Ammunition sales are also covered. A dealer or ammunition seller cannot transfer ammunition without a background check, with limited exceptions for dealer-to-dealer sales and for range ammunition that stays on-site for immediate use. Sellers must keep electronic records of every transaction, including the date, the buyer’s name, age, occupation, and residence, and the amount, caliber, manufacturer, and distinguishing marks of the ammunition, in a format approved by the Superintendent of State Police.⁷

Safe Storage at Home

When a firearm is not being carried or under your direct control, New York requires you to keep it in a safe storage container that needs a key or combination, or to secure it with a trigger lock. Three living situations trigger the duty, and the offense level depends on which one applies.⁸

If anyone in your household is under 18, unsecured storage is a Class A misdemeanor.
If someone in your household is barred from possessing firearms because of a felony conviction, an extreme risk protection order, a mental health commitment, or a serious misdemeanor, unsecured storage is also a Class A misdemeanor.
If you know or have reason to know someone under 16 is likely to gain access, unsecured storage is a violation rather than a misdemeanor, but still carries penalties.

There are narrow exceptions for lawful uses, such as letting a minor with a valid hunting license use a firearm under supervision.⁸

Pistol Permit Recertification

Before 2013, New York pistol permits were essentially issued for life. The SAFE Act ended that. Concealed carry permits must be recertified every three years. Premises-restricted permits must be recertified every five years.⁹

Recertification is done online through the State Police portal. You submit your name, date of birth, address, New York driver’s license or non-driver ID number, and a current inventory of every pistol and revolver on your permit. There is no fee. Once you submit, you cannot edit electronically; corrections require calling the State Police firearms line at 1-855-529-4867.⁹

One boundary worth flagging: permit holders in New York City, Nassau County, Suffolk County, and Westchester County do not recertify through the State Police. Those jurisdictions run their own systems, with their own deadlines and procedures.

Mental Health Reporting That Can Cost You Your License

Section 9.46 of the Mental Hygiene Law requires four categories of professionals, physicians, psychologists, registered nurses, and licensed clinical social workers, to report a patient to the county director of community services when, in their reasonable professional judgment, the patient is likely to engage in conduct that would cause serious harm to themselves or others.¹⁰

The threshold is not general concern. “Likely to cause serious harm” means a substantial risk of physical harm to the person, evidenced by threats or attempts at suicide or serious self-harm, or a substantial risk of physical harm to others, evidenced by homicidal or violent behavior that puts others in reasonable fear of serious injury.¹¹ If a report is made and the person holds a firearms license, the Division of Criminal Justice Services notifies the local licensing official, who must suspend or revoke the license.¹²

Extreme Risk Protection Orders

New York added its red flag law in 2019. An Extreme Risk Protection Order is a civil court order that bars a person from buying or possessing firearms for up to one year when a court finds they are likely to cause serious harm to themselves or others. A temporary ERPO can be issued the same day, without the respondent present, on a probable cause finding. A full hearing follows, and if a final order is granted, the respondent must surrender all firearms to law enforcement or a licensed dealer.¹³ A person subject to a final ERPO is a “prohibited person” for purposes of the safe storage rule above, which means anyone else in the household who owns firearms now has to lock them up.

What Changed After Bruen: The CCIA

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen struck down New York’s “proper cause” requirement for concealed carry permits. Within weeks, the state passed the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which replaced proper cause with a much heavier compliance package.¹⁴

Concealed carry applicants must now complete a firearms safety course of at least sixteen hours of in-person instruction plus at least two hours of live-fire range training. They must sit for an in-person interview with the licensing officer, provide contact information for a spouse or domestic partner and other adult household members, supply at least four character references, and disclose their social media accounts from the past three years.¹⁴

The CCIA also defined a broad list of “sensitive places” where carrying a concealed firearm is a Class E felony: government buildings, healthcare facilities, houses of worship, libraries, public parks, schools, and public transit, among others. Private property is off-limits by default; the owner must post signage or otherwise give express permission before a licensee can carry there. The Second Circuit has upheld several of these restrictions, including bans on firearms in places like Times Square and on public transit, though other provisions remain in litigation.¹⁵

The CCIA also shifted background checks from a one-time event at licensing to ongoing monitoring. DCJS and the State Police now run monthly checks against licensees’ records for new criminal convictions, mental health commitments, protective orders, and ERPOs.

Penalties at a Glance

Penalties under the SAFE Act and related New York firearms statutes track the seriousness of the violation.

Assault Weapon Violations

Possessing an unregistered assault weapon is criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, a Class D felony with a maximum of seven years in prison.¹⁶¹⁷ Transferring an assault weapon to someone in New York without complying with registration requirements is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail.

Magazine Violations

Possessing a magazine capable of holding more than ten rounds is a criminal offense. If you kept a magazine that should have been modified, discarded, or surrendered by the January 2014 deadline, you face potential misdemeanor or felony charges depending on the circumstances.

Background Check and Recordkeeping Violations

Selling a firearm without running the required background check through a licensed dealer, or failing to maintain the required records, can bring criminal charges. Selling a firearm to someone you know is prohibited from owning one is a Class D felony carrying up to seven years in prison.

Downstream Effect on Your License

A felony conviction bars firearm possession entirely under both state and federal law. Certain misdemeanor convictions can also disqualify you from obtaining or renewing a pistol permit for at least five years, and potentially longer at the licensing officer’s discretion. Convictions involving domestic violence, third-degree assault, menacing, and misdemeanor DWI carry that risk.

The compliance picture keeps moving. The Second Circuit upheld the core of the SAFE Act in 2015, and New York has so far successfully defended most of its firearms regulations under the historical-analogue test Bruen introduced.⁴ Additional challenges to both the SAFE Act and the CCIA remain pending, so licensees should watch federal court developments alongside their recertification calendars.

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New York State Senate. Governor Cuomo Signs Groundbreaking Legislation That Will Give New York State the Toughest Protections Against Gun Violence in the Nation
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