LOWELL — A new firearms policy will go into place despite a final plea from gun-rights advocates Tuesday for looser restrictions.

The policy requires anyone seeking a license-to-carry to take a gun-safety course. Anyone applying for an unrestricted gun license must state in writing why they should receive such a license, and to provide additional documentation, such as prior military or law-enforcement service, a prior license-to-carry permit, or signed letters of recommendation.

Critics who spoke Tuesday, and who’ve blasted the policy before, made one last attempt at persuading Police Superintendent William Taylor to make it less onerous on applicants.

“I will never write an essay to get my rights as an American citizen,” resident Dan Gannon said.

Taylor did agree to work with one resident, a trained firearms-safety instructor, to help shape a training course applicants will be required to take. The trainer, Randy Breton, strongly criticized Taylor moments earlier for what he said was intentionally expensive training to dissuade anyone from applying for a gun permit.

“It’s beyond ridiculous,” Breton said of courses he looked into. One costs $1,100 over five days, and another doesn’t offer any sessions through the rest of the year in Massachusetts.

Councilor Rita Mercier shared frustration aired by the advocates, saying she was “very disappointed” Taylor and the residents couldn’t reach agreement after meeting last November.

“I don’t feel that we’ve reached common ground,” she said. “I thought we would.”

Taylor, as head of the Police Department, may unilaterally set the firearms policy. After public comments and discussion lasting more than an hour, the council voted unanimously to put the new policy on file, and to support Taylor meeting with Breton to discuss training options.

City Manager Kevin Murphy, who helped mediate the meeting between Taylor and residents, said Tuesday that the city listened to residents’ concerns. Lowell’s policy is less strict than those in many of the state’s largest cities, he said, and allows the police to look closer at each applicant individually.

“We’re no longer taking a cookie-cutter approach to issuing firearms licenses,” he said.

According to Taylor, Lowell has about 6,000 licenses-to-carry issued. The “vast majority,” he said, are restricted, which do not allow residents to openly carry guns.

A Sun review last year of state firearms data found Lowell to be among the lowest four-fifths of similar Massachusetts cities in terms of the per-capita rate at which it grants permits.

Follow Grant Welker on Twitter and Tout @SunGrantWelker.