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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