ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. — Twelve months ago, thousands of residents flooded to Erie County outreach centers to get pistol permits ahead of new state gun laws imposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Carmen Marino of Cheektowaga was among them, but now one year later, rather than a permit in hand, he’s looking at possibly having the start the entire process again.
After submitting his permit in August of 2022, Marino didn’t hear from the Erie County Clerk’s office until May. He spent three months attempting to contact them after catching wind that his permit could be lost.
Eventually, someone returned his call.
“They're like, ‘We don't see it in the system, and we can't find it anywhere. Oh, you're one of those people who we've lost their application,’ ” he said.
Marino said he believes the office has lost a number of other applications over the last year.
It comes after a four-month audit into the Erie County Clerk's office revealed a number of missteps within the pistol permit office, specifically, that, among other things, found the office overcharged new permit applicants, improperly gave employees access to applicants’ mental health records, and allowed for a flawed permit fee process that led to an imbalance in cashflow for the county.
“There is no excuse to lose something of this nature because they wouldn't lose my payment for my taxes — I guarantee you,” Marino said. “They're not losing that.”
Marino says at this point all he wants is for the county to call him back and tell him what to do — a response that even after trying a few times Wednesday, 2 On Your Side was unable to get either.
“We did our due diligence,” Marino said. “We did the application fee, the photo fee, fingerprints, the course, itself, that's well over $185. Now with the new laws that the state put in place, you're looking at over $600.”
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