CANTON -- St. Lawrence County Attorney Stephen Button is clarifying what proper procedure means under the new concealed carry pistol law.

Legislators passed a law June 1 aimed at allowing eligible citizens to acquire unrestricted carry-and-conceal pistol licenses.

The law was proposed after St. Lawrence County Judge Jerome Richards was publicly accused of refusing to issue unrestricted conceal carry permits for citizens.

Richards has been accused of restricting conceal-carry permits for the purposes of hunting and target shooting.

The controversy stems from a state law that lists the reasons that a conceal carry license may be issued. Critics say Richards has used the law as a means to deny citizens their Second Amendment rights.

According to Button, the appropriate means for review:

• For those who were originally issued an unrestricted carry concealed pistol license in a different county but transferred to St. Lawrence County and their unrestricted carry concealed pistol license was changed to an Outdoor Sports License restricted pistol license, the applicant need merely send a letter addressed to the County Clerk requesting the lifting of the restrictions and re-imposing the unrestricted carry concealed pistol license that was originally imposed in the county of issuance. The case file will be pulled and if restrictions have been placed on the license by St. Lawrence County and the license was originally issued by another County without restrictions being placed on said license, those restrictions will be removed.

• For those licenses originally issued in St. Lawrence County with restrictions, the applicant must send a letter to the County Judge requesting the lifting of the restrictions, stating the reason therefore and identifying the license number. Each request will be individually reviewed and considered. The written request must satisfy the definition of “proper cause”.

• For those applicants who have never possessed a Pistol License and who are seeking an initial determination, the applicant will need to follow the normal course for application and background check.

Under New York State Penal Law § 400.00 et al, “A license for a pistol or revolver, other than an assault weapon or a disguised gun, shall be issued to …(f) have and carry concealed, without regard to employment or place of possession, by any person when proper cause exists for the issuance thereof…,” Button said.