As of September 1, 2022, all licensees, including retired members of law enforcement, must have sixteen (16) hours of training and two (2) hours of shooting practice. The State of New York plans eventually to check back three (3) years of the applicant’s social media accounts, but, as of this writing, personnel is not yet in place at the Licensing Division to conduct social media checks. H.R. 218 certification will be accepted only if it was acquired prior to September 1, 2022. The caveat is that the Licensing Division will assume the retired member of the service had H.R. 218 certification for consecutive years and didn’t just newly acquire it. We hope more information will be forthcoming, but as of this writing, this is what is known at this time.
