Buying a Gun in New York

Handguns: a license is required to possess a pistol or revolver, and no license issues except to an applicant 'twenty-one years of age or older' (military exception). Semiautomatic rifles: 'A license for a semiautomatic rifle, other than an assault weapon or disguised gun, shall be issued' to purchase or take possession of one, subject to the same age-21 rule. Other rifles and shotguns: § 400.00 sets no separate age; Penal Law § 265.05 makes it unlawful for 'any person under the age of sixteen to possess' guns, except a holder of a hunting license or permit using a rifle or shotgun under the Environmental Conservation Law.

Yes. 'all sales, exchanges or disposals of firearms, rifles or shotguns shall be conducted in accordance with this section' — a national instant criminal background check 'must be completed by a dealer' — unless the transfer is by a licensed importer, manufacturer or dealer, or 'between members of an immediate family' (defined as 'spouses, domestic partners, children and step-children'). Handguns and semiautomatic rifles additionally require a license under Penal Law § 400.00.

No fixed waiting period for all sales, but if the background check does not return a 'proceed', a dealer may deliver only after 'thirty calendar days have elapsed since the date the licensee contacted NICS' without a denial. Handgun and semiautomatic-rifle buyers must first obtain a license, which the licensing officer must act on within six months.

Regulated. A 'ghost gun' is 'a firearm, rifle or shotgun that does not comply with the provisions of section 265.07' and is not serialized; an 'unfinished frame or receiver' is 'any unserialized material' shaped so it 'may readily be made into a functional frame or receiver.' Gunsmiths and dealers must 'engrave, cast, stamp or otherwise conspicuously place both a unique serial number and his or her name' on unserialized firearms and frames or receivers they hold and register them with the Division of Criminal Justice Services (failure is a class E felony). Knowingly selling or transferring a ghost gun is 'Criminal sale of a ghost gun in the second degree,' a class E felony (§ 265.60), with a first-degree offense in § 265.61.