Bernie Madoff’s son is gunning for a pistol permit.
Andrew Madoff, 43, applied for a license to keep a handgun in his swanky Upper East Side pad more than six months ago — and his name appears on NYPD and state police lists of approved permit holders.
This despite Andrew’s allegedly punching out a former employee on the street and going through an ugly divorce.
A high-ranking NYPD insider said Andrew’s dust-up with ex-worker Reed Abend in January should have disqualified him.
“I would think that if the license division knew about that, they would suspend his permit immediately,” the source said.
The alleged January smackdown happened when Abend, 37, confronted Andrew about getting stiffed on a $450,000 bonus. Abend told The Post Andrew clocked him in the head, sending him to the hospital. No one was arrested.
The NYPD issues permits at the police commissioner’s discretion — and commonly gives them to those with clean records and no history of mental or substance problems.
In response to a Freedom of Information request by The Post in September, the NYPD provided a list of 36,040 permit holders last week, saying the names were verified and up to date as of Dec. 18.
Asked about Madoff’s permit, the NYPD then said its records were wrong — that he applied but has not been approved.
But a spokesman for the State Police — which gets permit information from counties across the state and New York City — said Andrew Madoff is on its roster of license holders.
The NYPD’s answers confused even Madoff’s lawyer.
“Andrew Madoff did apply for a permit to have a gun in his home, and that was well over six months ago,” Martin Flumenbaum said. “He has not heard anything — one way or another — from the NYPD.”
The NYPD is required by law to approve a gun permit application within six months or explain why it was rejected.
The Madoffs have worn a bulls-eye since Wall Street weasel Bernie copped to a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. He wore a bulletproof vest to court.
Andrew’s wife filed for divorce the same day his father was charged last December.
The NYPD list of permit holders was fraught with problems. The list includes former state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, who was convicted this month of mail and wire fraud. But the NYPD said Bruno’s license was yanked when he was indicted on Jan. 23.
“That’s the typical NYPD bureaucracy,” said New York City gun lawyer Jerold Levine. “If you press them and catch them, then their answer will be, ‘We did nothing wrong, and we will never do it again.’ ”
Cops said there are 36,040 current permit holders, down from 36,937 in 2008. They revoked 209 permits in 2009.
PACKING HEAT
The following have NYPD pistol permits:
Howard Stern, satellite shock jock
Don Imus, syndicated shock jock
Harvey Keitel, actor
Sean Hannity, TV host
Donald Trump, developer
Donald Trump Jr.
Eric Trump
Ronald Lauder, Estee Lauder heir
Carlos Delgado, ex-Mets first baseman
David Wright, Mets third baseman
Lee Mazzilli, former Met and Yankee
Barry Levinson, director
Tommy Mottola, recording exec
John Mack, CEO of Morgan Stanley
John Catsimatidis, Gristedes CEO
Alexis Stewart, Martha’s daughter
Dr. Robert Jarvik, artificial heart inventor
Richard Brown, Queens DA
Janet DiFiore, Westchester DA
Barry Slotnick, lawyer
Raoul Felder, lawyer
Pat Cooper, comedian
Anthony Carbonetti,Giuliani Partners
Additional reporting by Susan Edelman and James Fanelli