Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen ruling struck down the requirement that applicants show a special need to carry, demand for concealed-carry permits increased sharply, and New York City classes are filling up, according to THE CITY in partnership with The Trace. In neighboring New Jersey, monthly applications have reached record highs, according to the New Jersey Monitor.
New York requires at least 16 hours of classroom instruction, a written exam and a live-fire assessment for carry permits — more classroom time than any state except Maryland and Illinois, according to the report.
The state does not standardize instruction beyond core topics, so private instructors have stepped in to design and run courses as interest has grown.
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What the reporting shows inside NYC classes
Weekend training groups range from attorneys to transit workers. Courses are often led by private instructors credentialed as “duly authorized” by national groups like the National Rifle Association. While the classroom component covers legal liability and safety, the live-fire requirement is specific: applicants must land four out of five shots on a target positioned 12 feet away.
According to THE CITY and The Trace, more than 17,000 permits have been approved since 2022, with a backlog of more than 8,000 pending as of October 1. In 2011, according to The New York Times, fewer than 4,000 New Yorkers were legally allowed to carry weapons.
Applications jumped after June 2022 and rose again following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, according to NYPD data cited by the outlets.
What one working paper finds
Following the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen ruling, a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper examined whether more rigid permit rules—such as longer training requirements or higher fees—change outcomes. The study tracked state laws from 2000 to 2022 and compared places that tweaked training hours or costs under “shall-issue” mandate systems.
The authors found little evidence that stricter training or higher fees deter applicants or improve public safety. In their models, adding hours or raising fees did not meaningfully reduce permits issued or reliably move violent-crime rates, gun theft, accidental shootings, or defensive gun use. Some short-term shifts appeared in specific states and timelines, but they were small and inconsistent.
The paper stresses limits. Only a handful of states changed training hours or fees during the study window, which narrows the sample and makes it difficult to pin down the effects. Results focus on “shall-issue” states and utilize administrative crime and hospitalization data, which may miss less severe incidents.
The working paper is not yet peer-reviewed, and suggests that training mandates alone are unlikely to “counteract” broader effects of more permissive carry laws.
What the numbers show in New Jersey
According to attorney general data cited by the New Jersey Monitor, the state received 61,751 carry-permit applications between the June 2022 Bruen ruling and January 2025, up from the roughly 1,500 received in the prior two-and-a-half years. Monthly applications hit a new record of 4,282 in January 2025. Of those applicants, only 325 denials were recorded, the Monitor reports.
The legal backdrop and what’s next
After Bruen struck down New York’s “proper cause” carry standard, state lawmakers added vetting and training requirements and limited guns in “sensitive” places.
New Jersey enacted similar location restrictions, which remain under litigation. The 3rd Circuit is weighing a challenge to New Jersey’s law. Michael Symons, spokesperson for the New Jersey attorney general, said any post-Bruen crime impact may lag because guns used in crimes are often acquired years earlier, the Monitor reported. In New York City, THE CITY and The Trace note a mounting processing queue, with some applications pending since summer 2024.
