California Gun Groups Ready New Challenge Over Concealed Carry Abuses

It’s been about three months since the California Rifle & Pistol Association sent a warning to Santa Clara County and the city of Los Angeles over significant issues with the concealed carry process in those jurisdictions, and neither the city nor county have seen fit to correct their abuses. 

This week the group announced that it, along with the Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of California, and Gun Owners of America will soon be filing a federal lawsuit over the issues. 

For many years now, CRPA, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners of California, and Second Amendment Foundation have been hard at work ensuring that each and every one of California’s 58 counties implements a “Bruen-compliant” CCW process.  

Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police Department have consistently resisted demands to eliminate excessive delays, exorbitant fees, and other hindrances to CCW access.  

We’re left with no choice to but to file lawsuits against each to REGAIN CCW RIGHTS!

Now, every jurisdiction in the state should be complying with both the spirit and the letter of the Bruen decision, but Santa Clara’s response is particularly egregious given that the former sheriff was convicted of using her office in a pay-to-carry scheme where the average citizen was denied the right to carry while well-connected and deep-pocketed donors would receive permits after giving cash and prizes to the sheriff and a supposedly independent campaign backing her re-election. 

While the demise of California’s “may issue” licensing scheme helped to put an end to that kind of corruption, Santa Clara still makes it difficult, if not impossible, for many average citizens to obtain a permit to carry by pricing them out of their Second Amendment rights. Applying for a carry permit in the county will run you $976; and that doesn’t include the cost of the mandatory training course, the psychological evaluation required by the county, and other fees. As we reported back in March, “the California Rifle & Pistol Association estimates that Santa Clara County residents wanting to exercise their right to carry will have to shell out around $2,000 in order to obtain their 2A permission slip, and they’re warning the county to bring down the cost or prepare to defend their actions.”

According to the San Jose Spotlight, permit applications have soared in Santa Clara County since the Bruen decision came down, with a 774% increase between 2022 and 2023. Even after the initial surge, interest remains high, with another 132% increase in carry permit approvals between 2023 and 2024. 

Those are some eye-popping figures, but when you ignore the percentages and just look at the raw numbers it’s far less impressive. 

The paper also reports that only 690 permits have been approved over the past three years, with nearly 1,800 applications in the pipeline. Given that almost two million people call Santa Clara County home, I’d say it’s pretty evident that the high cost to carry is pricing many residents out of exercising their Second Amendment rights… and that CRPA has a strong case to make that the county’s excessive fees aren’t just unreasonable, but unconstitutional as well. 

The L.A. County Sheriff is already being sued by CRPA and its allies over its lengthy delays in processing permits, but the city of Los Angeles is just as bad. As one gun owner complained on Reddit earlier this year, “When I first applied they said up to a year but now they’re saying 20-24 months… is there any legal action I can take as a private citizen against them??”

Yes there is. I hope he contacts CRPA to see about becoming a plaintiff in the upcoming litigation, as well as making a donation to help fund the cost of the lawsuit.

The Supreme Court has said that exorbitant fees or excessive wait times can render even “shall issue’ systems unconstitutional, and I’d say both Santa Clara and Los Angeles have proved that point all too well. It shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to obtain a carry permit, nor should you have to twiddle your thumbs for a year or more before receiving permission from local authorities to exercise a fundamental civil right. I’d love to see the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division investigate these abuses as well, but I’m glad that Second Amendment groups aren’t waiting for DOJ to take action, and are kicking off the legal fight on their own.