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First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

Monday, October 6, 2025

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

California officials’ egregious foot-dragging over the issuance of carry permits has finally attracted the ire of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). As we’ve reported previously, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) was already under investigation by the Trump administration over allegations of excessive delays in processing concealed handgun license applications. On September 30, DOJ’s Civil Rights Division announced that a lawsuit had been filed in the Federal Central District of California.

The case, brought on behalf of the United States against the LASD and Sheriff Robert Luna in his official capacity, alleges that the defendants have “systematically denied thousands of law-abiding Californians their fundamental Second Amendment right to bear arms outside the home—not through outright refusal, but through a deliberate pattern of unconscionable delay that renders this constitutional right meaningless in practice.” The delays “far exceed California’s own statutory requirement that licensing authorities provide initial determinations within 90 days, demonstrating Defendants’ flagrant disregard for both state law and constitutional obligations.”

According to the complaint, applicants for concealed carry licenses were forced to wait an average of 281 days (over nine months) before even the initial processing of their applications began, “with some waiting as long as 1,030 days (nearly three years).” Approximately 2,768 applications for new licenses were outstanding as of May 2025, meaning interviews of applicants were being scheduled as late as November 2026, “more than two years after some applications were first submitted.” What makes these alleged delays especially shocking is that a California license to carry a concealed firearm is valid for no more than two years from the date of issuance, meaning the application processing time almost inevitably exceeded the duration of the permit being sought.

The result, unsurprisingly, was that licenses were being issued at a rate that was practically zero. The complaint notes that between January 2, 2024, and March 31, 2025, the LASD received approximately 3,982 new license applications. As of May 8, 2025, the department had managed to issue only two licenses, a truly dismal 0.050% of all new license applications.

California, of course, does not recognize the carry permits and licenses issued by any other state, so a California license is generally required to avoid committing the crime of “carrying a concealed firearm,” a potential felony.    

Law enforcement agencies like the Sheriff’s Department are entrusted with upholding the law, not subverting it, a point made in the complaint document. The defendants have a duty to process applications for a license to carry, necessary under state law for law-abiding individuals to exercise their Second Amendment rights. The alleged conduct, however, represents a systemic and “coordinated effort by Defendants to nullify through bureaucratic obstruction what they cannot deny through law. When constitutional rights are deliberately delayed beyond any reasonable timeframe, they are effectively denied.” The result of this “deliberately stalled process” is “thousands of law-abiding citizens who have been stripped of their constitutional right to self-defense outside their homes.”

The United States brings the action under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 34 U.S.C. § 12601, which authorizes the federal Attorney General to sue local law enforcement agencies for “engag[ing] in a pattern or practice of conduct” that “deprives persons of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.” The remedies sought include declaratory relief (that excessive delays and almost nonexistent application approval rate are violations of the Second Amendment) and a permanent injunction to prohibit the defendants from continuing to disregard the laws on carry license issuance.

This lawsuit represents “the first affirmative lawsuit in support of gun owners filed by the U.S. Department of Justice,” but is hopefully not the last. Recalcitrant jurisdictions across the country continue to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court’s warning in Bruen on Second Amendment rights and abusive permitting schemes. Attorney General Pamela Bondi has lately fired off a letter to Pennsylvania Attorney General David Sunday and Sean P. Kilkenny, the Montgomery County Sheriff, regarding reports that sheriffs there are “not properly issuing carry licenses on a nondiscretionary, nondiscriminatory basis” to out-of-state residents, in “clear violation of Pennsylvania law.” Elsewhere in California, the Los Angeles Police Department stands accused of extremely slow processing times, with license applicants being told of an 18-22 month wait.

Indeed, the press release announcing this first-of-its-kind litigation invites public input on citizens’ own experiences of unreasonable delays in permitting decisions. “If you or someone you know has applied for a concealed carry permit in Los Angeles or any jurisdiction within the United States and have not received a reply or decision within four months after applying, please email [email protected]. The mailbox is actively monitored by attorneys assigned to protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”

“The Second Amendment protects the fundamental constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to bear arms,” states Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Los Angeles County may not like that right, but the Constitution does not allow them to infringe upon it. This Department of Justice will continue to fight for the Second Amendment.”

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North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

There have been multiple developments on the Canadian gun grab and ban in the last few days, but the most astounding has got to be a leaked bombshell recording of the Liberal Public Safety Minister, ...

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Yesterday, in Butler v. Bondi, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its statutory authority by issuing its 2024 Final Rule expanding ...

Canada’s Gun Grab: Amnesty Expiration Approaches as Top Officials Sow Confusion

News  

Monday, September 22, 2025

Canada’s Gun Grab: Amnesty Expiration Approaches as Top Officials Sow Confusion

Canada’s Liberal government has consistently and misleadingly used “buyback” to describe the 2020 mandatory “assault weapon” confiscation law, in an attempt to make the scheme appear less hostile to property rights and Canada’s responsible gun ...

Gun Controllers Rage at Everytown Over “Firearms Training,” Demand “Abstinence”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Gun Controllers Rage at Everytown Over “Firearms Training,” Demand “Abstinence”

A revealing article in USA Today last week reported that Everytown for Gun Safety’s new “firearms training” program, Train SMART, “met stiff opposition from [Everytown’s] own members and longtime supporters.” 

Open Carry Comes to Florida

News  

Monday, September 22, 2025

Open Carry Comes to Florida

On September 10, the First District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida struck down the Sunshine State’s prohibition on open carry as a violation of the Second Amendment in the case McDaniel v. Florida. ...

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Friday, October 3, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition for certiorari in Wolford v. Lopez, a challenge to Hawaii’s law forbidding carry on private property open to the public (such as restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores) ...

California Loves Gun Control, Loathes Crime Control

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

California Loves Gun Control, Loathes Crime Control

California is always adding to its mountain of gun control laws aimed at disarming law-abiding citizens.

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Friday, October 3, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Yesterday, the National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bondi, urging the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s decision upholding the Federal ...

Pennsylvania: Another Gun Bill Fails on House Floor

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Pennsylvania: Another Gun Bill Fails on House Floor

On Tuesday, another anti-gun bill was defeated on the House floor, failing to receive approval by a 101-102 vote.    

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Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.