Santa Clara County Poised to Make Carry Permits More Expensive

Survey after survey shows that the reason most people own guns is for self-defense. This isn’t particularly surprising considering how much crime dominates the local news cycle. If it bleeds, it leads, and that is going to cause a lot of people to be concerned.

But in San Jose, they made it much more expensive to own a firearm.

They charge a fee to own a firearm and require insurance. That sucks, but now Santa Clara County–where San Jose is located–is about to make it more expensive to defend yourself even if you don’t live in San Jose itself.

Santa Clara County gun owners will have to pay more for concealed carry weapons licenses — and threats of lawsuits are already rolling in.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved Sheriff Bob Jonsen’s proposal to hike the fees for new civilian licenses from $662 to $976. The standard renewal required every two years would go up from $187 to $447. Fees would not change for judges or law enforcement personnel.

The increases — applicable to residents of Cupertino, Los Altos Hills, Saratoga and the county’s unincorporated neighborhoods — would bring county fees more in line with other cities, such as Morgan Hill, which charges $945 for new licenses. San Jose charges $1,328.

Additional expenses come with applying, such as state-required fingerprinting and psychological evaluations. Applicants pay that separately.

Jonsen’s office said the changes are necessary to recover the costs of expanded application vetting requirements after the passage of Senate Bill 2, which toughens the approval process and background checks. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law after a 2022 Supreme Court ruling transformed American gun rights by recognizing the right to carry a loaded gun in public for self-defense.

I’m not buying it.

No, this is nothing more than an attempt to make it too expensive to carry a firearm for most people. Since most who buy guns do it for self-defense, we know that at least some of those will want to carry it with them because not all violent crime happens at home.

Now they’re talking about dropping twice the cost of a decent pistol on a permit. Plus, California mandates training, which is yet another expense.

All of these costs create a barrier to exercising the right to bear arms. It’s an infringement, plain and simple.

Plus, let’s be real here, California’s permits were already ridiculously expensive. The USCCA says the average cost of a concealed carry permit is $50-$200. That means the current rate in Santa Clara County is more than three times the upper end of that average, and they now want to make it closer to five times more expensive.

I get that Newsom and the legislature want more in-depth background checks for permits, but there’s absolutely no reason that the permitting process should have been that expensive in the first place.

It’s beyond ridiculous.

Let’s also not forget that this is the Santa Clara County. What I mean is that this is the same Santa Clara County where the last sheriff, Laurie Smith, served for decades but was convicted of corruption for handing out concealed carry permits to those who paid the price. Now, the new sheriff wants to do pretty much the same thing, only this time he’s doing it a little bit more above board. It still amounts to “pay to play” in my book, especially at these ridiculous prices.

Now, for the record, this won’t actually make a difference for those in San Jose where it’s already ridiculously expensive, but I find the whole “bring fees in line with other communities” a ridiculous reason to raise prices on exercising a constitutionally protected right. Bringing them down? Sure. Otherwise, forget it.

Then again, it’s not like anyone running any government in this part of the country thinks there are more than nine amendments in the Bill of Rights away, if even that many.