L.A. Sheriff’s Office Still Slow-Walking Carry Permits

In December, 2023 the California Rifle and Pistol Association, along with the Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners of California, and a spate of individual plaintiffs, filed suit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the city of LaVerne, California over abuses in their concealed carry permitting processes. 

The LASD was accused of, among other things, egregious wait times lasting well over a year simply to apply for a permit. Now the plaintiffs have filed an amended complaint showing that the situation hasn’t gotten any better in the almost two years since the lawsuit was filed. 

According to CRPA et al, some plaintiffs have finally received their permits, but only after an excruciatingly long wait. Charles Messel, for example, originally submitted his permit application in July, 2022. When he heard nothing back from the department, Messel reached out to them in April, 2023 to ask what was taking so long. 

The response he received stated: “We were several months behind in opening and entering applications in our tracking system. Although you applied earlier, your application wasn’t entered into our tracking system until 11/2/22. We are currently working on applications that went into our tracking system in July of 2022. Thank you for your patience.”

Messel still hadn’t received his permit when the lawsuit was filed in December, 2023, but the amended complaint notes that after litigation commenced the LASD finally got around to processing his application… almost two years after it was first filed. 

The amended complaint also features several new plaintiffs, all of whom have similar stories about being denied their right to carry through the department’s unconscionable delays. 

Plaintiff Brian Weimer is a resident of Los Angeles County and a lawabiding citizen. Mr. Weimer is employed by Los Angeles County as a firefighter onCatalina Island. Like Mr. Messel, Mr. Weimer applied for a CCW permit with LASD and still has not been issued one. Mr. Weimer applied in January 2023, over a year ago, but still has not been issued a permit or a denial. His constitutional right to carry a firearm for self-defense has been denied to him. 

Plaintiff Albert Medalla is a resident of Los Angeles County and a law-abiding citizen. He works the graveyard shift at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as an ultrasound technologist. Due to rising crime in his area, he desires to be able to carry a firearm for self-defense. He applied for his CCW permit with LASD on October 31, 2023. His initial interview is not scheduled to occur until August 11,2025.

Plaintiff Zao Lin Chen is a resident of Los Angeles County and a lawabiding citizen. He is a federal employee and holds an FFL-03 license, both of which speak to his good standing as a citizen. He applied for a CCW permit with LASD on April 3, 2025, but the earliest appointment time he could reserve for his initial interview was April 9, 2026. 

Plaintiff Eric Stratton is a resident of Los Angeles County and a lawabiding citizen. He holds CCW permits from two other states and is a retired Los Angeles firefighter. He applied for a CCW permit with LASD on May 28, 2025, but the earliest appointment time he could reserve for his initial interview was June2, 2026.

Plaintiff Farzad Nezam is a resident of Los Angeles County and a lawabiding citizen. He is a licensed California attorney who decided to apply for a CCW permit following the murder of one of his clients, which made him fear for his own safety. He applied for a CCW permit with LASD on December 7, 2024, but the earliest appointment time he could reserve for his initial interview was December 16, 2025.

It’s still taking a year or longer for the LASD just to schedule appointments for the initial interview, and that’s only one step in the process of obtaining a carry permit. 

California law, meanwhile, requires that licensing authorities give written notice to applicants telling them if they’ve been approved or denied within 120 days of receiving the completed application for a new license, or 30 days after CalDOJ runs the background check on the applicant, whichever is later. The Supreme Court has held that “shall issue” licensing regimes can still be unconstitutional if they submit applicants to “lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees [that] deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry.” 

Waiting more than a year to receive a permit to carry is unquestionably “lengthy”. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has argued that the delays are the result of understaffing, and that it’s the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors who are to blame since they’re not adequately funding the department. Even if that is the case, the LASD has a duty to process these applications in a timely manner, and if that means moving staff around to ensure that happens, then that’s what needs to be done. 

The original complaint in CRPA v. LASD was damning enough, but the amended complaint filed on Monday proves that nothing has changed since the sheriff’s department was put on notice nearly two years ago. That should be enough to grant the injunctive relief requested by the plaintiffs and allow these individuals to lawfully carry if their permits have not been processed within 120 days of submitting their applications. I’d love to see U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett apply those same terms to every applicant, not just those directly involved in the lawsuit, but at the very least the named plaintiffs and members of CRPA, GOA, and GOC should get the relief they deserve and the ability to exercise their fundamental right to bear arms. 

Editor’s Note: Anti-gunners will stop at nothing to prevent us from exercising our Second Amendment rights. 

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