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CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N.Y. — The recent topic of gun legislation has created a pistol permit frenzy in Chautauqua County causing the permit office to be overwhelmed.
County Undersheriff Charles Holder reported to the Public Safety Committee that the county usually processes 300 pistol permit requests per year, and now more than 150 applications have been made in just the past five days.
He also expressed his concerns about the re-certification process.
"Does that mean the Sheriffs Office is going to have to re-certify these folks who have pistol permits every five years? Who does it? How far do we have to do it? Do we have to do criminal histories? What does that mean? Ultimately, I think its going to mean more work for us and possibly more fees to the citizens out there."
Holder added that the department has also been bombarded with phone calls from residents with questions about the gun control legislation.