The NYPD Gun License division is feeling the heat after a bribery scandal that may have put weapons in the hands of the wrong people. Now major changes are on the way. NY1 Criminal Justice Reporter Dean Meminger has the exclusive details on how it is getting harder to obtain a city permit to own a gun.

The NYPD says from now on anyone applying for a city gun permit will have to appear in person to answer questions. In the past, applicants were able to use expediters — hired third-parties — to represent them before the department.

This is just one of the changes coming to the unit that issues thousands of city gun permits every year, NY1 has learned.

"We are doing a top to bottom review of the license unit, the firearms license unit," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said this week. "We will be making a lot of changes in that unit, have been making them."

This is all because of several ongoing investigations by the NYPD, FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office into alleged bribery schemes involving cops.

Last month businessman Alex Lichtenstein was charged with paying officers in the Firearms License Division thousands of dollars to obtain more than 150 gun licenses for people who may have not met the city's strict licensing qualifications. His lawyers say he only acted as an expediter. 

After the allegations surfaced, the unit's commander was transferred and other officers were stripped of their guns.    

"I think at this stage that based on the info we are working with we fully understand the scope of the several matters that are being investigated," Bratton said. "And that it is a scope that we can deal with and deal with very effectively."

The ban on expediters is not the only change ordered by Bratton.

As in the past, permits will require the okay of the unit's commanding officer. But from now on, licenses will need a second approval - from a new assistant deputy commissioner for legal matters. It's a civilian position that will be filled initially by a former Manhattan prosecutor.

There will also be a top-to-bottom audit of the license division to look for errors in granting permits.

Anyone with a NYPD gun permit has to renew his or her license every three years. That will give the department a chance to review the 62,000 active permits currently on the books.

Last year the NYPD received more than 3,200 permit applications and 2,600 were granted.

Because of this investigation and review, 15 permits have been revoked and more revocations are expected.