The federal Department of Justice says the LA County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation into whether people’s gun rights are violating excessive fees and hidden carry permit wait times.
DOJ announced Thursday afternoon that it was launching an investigation into possible abuse of the Second Amendment Security Bureau, part of a broader review of “restrictive firearms-related laws” in California and other states.
Federal authorities cited the lawsuit challenging the 18-month delayed plaintiff who faced receiving a hidden carry license from LASD as a reason for the investigation. The DOJ news release states that others “are likely going through equally long delays that overburden or effectively deny the right to second amendments for the people of Los Angeles.
The Justice Department called California “particularly awful offenders,” resisting the Supreme Court’s recent amended amendment ruling and enacted new laws to further limit the right to possess arms. Last month, Trump oversaw Atty. General Pam Bondi has launched a review of the second amendment law and infringement nationwide.
“This Department of Justice will not stand vaguely while the state and region violate the Second Amendment rights of Americans to comply with ordinary law,” Bondi said in a statement on the LASD investigation. “The second amendment is not a second-rate right. Under my watch, the department will actively enforce the second amendment, just as it actively enforces other fundamental constitutional rights.”
The Sheriff’s Office issued a statement Thursday saying it respected and supported the second amendment. The department said limited staff and application backlogs blame the delay in approval of permits.
“We are committed to handling all hidden carry weapons (CCW) applications in compliance with state and local laws to promote responsible gun ownership,” the statement said. “The department is facing a critical staffing crisis with only 14 staff members in the CCW unit, but has approved 15,000 CCW applications. We are currently working diligently on roughly 4,000 active cases and strive to meet this rich mission.”
Jacob Charles, an associate professor of law at Pepperdine Caruso Law of Law School, who is studying the second amendment, said he had never seen a similar study before. It struck him with a wider gust of “partisan targets” by the liberal jurisdictions and groups, “taking the red and blue of another culture war issue.”
“We have to look at this in the context of Trump attacking law firms, universities, cities, counties, states, and states personally and not publicly arguing to him,” Charles said. “He’s not pretending to be president of all over the United States.”
Chuck Michelle, chairman of the California Rifle and Pistol Association, congratulated the investigation and told the Times that it was “one outcome” of his group’s lawsuit, which challenged the constitutionality of LASD’s hidden carry permit process.
“I think the reason DOJ is involved in this particular jurisdiction is because of what was revealed in this lawsuit,” he said.
Michelle said he wouldn’t be surprised if the investigation expanded beyond the county, as other California jurisdictions, including the Los Angeles Police Department, are also crimes of long wait times and exorbitant costs of permits.
“The main issue we currently face from somewhat rejected jurisdictions is the excessive fees and excessive waiting times to get licensed to go through the application process.
Bondi said he hopes Thursday’s announcement will encourage other regions to “voluntarily accept their obligation to protect the Second Amendment.” Otherwise, she added, the survey will be the first of many similar ones in California and across the country.
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