Milani v. New York City: Why NYC Gun Permit Delays Are Now a Federal Lawsuit
If you are a citizen who lives in New York City and you have told a friend that you are trying to exercise your Second Amendment rights, you have likely heard "good luck." Anyone who has ever dealt with the NYPD License Division knows they are notorious for taking their sweet time. If you have gone through the process, then none of this is going to sound shocking.
They slow walk applications and their responses. Applications "start" from when an investigator receives it and not when you actually submit it, which actually violates the state law requiring them to be processed within six months. There is also the endless back and forth regarding parts of the application that are "missing." It is a process that somehow finds new ways to waste your time while acting like it is doing you a favor.
That frustration is now sitting in federal court.
The case challenging NYC firearms permit processing delays and errors is called Milani v. New York City, and it focuses on one big issue. New York City residents say the NYPD is taking so long to process firearm license applications that the delay itself becomes the denial.
This lawsuit is not really about whether someone supports guns or hates them. It is about whether the government can drag out a legal process so badly that a constitutional right becomes useless in real life.
What Is Milani v. New York City About?
At the center of the case is a simple argument. Under New York law, the city is supposed to make a decision on a firearm license application within six months. According to the plaintiffs, that is not what is happening.
Instead, the lawsuit claims applicants are being left in limbo for 12 to 18 months, sometimes even longer, while waiting for the NYPD to move their files. In plain terms, the people suing the city are saying this: if the NYPD can stall your application long enough, they do not need to formally deny you. The wait does the damage on its own.
Why Are New Yorkers Suing the NYPD?
According to the lawsuit, the problem is not one bad employee or one missed deadline. The claim is that the permitting system itself is broken. Applicants say they are waiting months just to get fingerprinted, which is one of the earliest steps in the process. Before the application can even move forward, the clock is already burning, but the NYPD does not count this time.
Then comes the black hole stage. The lawsuit alleges that after fingerprinting, applications can sit for months before an investigator ever reviews them. So even when an applicant does everything they are supposed to do, the file can still end up stuck in the system with no real movement.
Even an approval may not end the problem. The lawsuit says that in some cases, licenses are approved but still not issued right away because of staffing problems or equipment issues. So even after the city says yes, the applicant may still be left waiting.
Why This Lawsuit Could Be a Big Deal
This case matters because it goes beyond gun licensing. It gets into a bigger question about civil rights and government power. Can a city avoid directly denying a right while making the process so slow, frustrating, and drawn out that the right means nothing in practice? That is the core of this case.
The plaintiffs argue that New York City is using bureaucracy like a wall. Not an official denial, and not a clean rejection, but just delay after delay until lawful people are effectively blocked from moving forward. Some critics argue that the process to obtain NYC firearm permits is working as it is intended; the long waits and processing times are a feature not a bug. These critics believe the NYC firearms permit process was structured to dissuade people in NYC from obtaining NYC firearms permits, as many may not even bother to apply for one after hearing they need to fill out over 13 pages of information on an outdated website and upload lots of documents.
If the court sides with the plaintiffs, Milani v. New York City could force major changes inside the NYPD License Division. It could also become an important case for other states and cities across the United States where issuing departments may be slow walking firearms permits (including concealed carry permits), other licenses, or other constitutionally protected activities that require government administrative approval.
The Bigger Question
At the end of the day, this lawsuit asks something pretty direct. If the government requires you to obtain a permission slip to exercise a right, can it create a process that allows it to stall you for over a year, and is that really any different from denying you permission outright? That is the question now in front of the court. We at Oak Arms Training Group will be keeping a close eye on this lawsuit.