The U.S. Department of Justice has dropped a legal hammer on the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), accusing it of systematically violating the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. According to the DOJ’s newly filed lawsuit, LASD delayed or obstructed the concealed carry permit process for thousands of applicants, essentially turning constitutional rights into a bureaucratic nightmare.
“The Second Amendment protects the fundamental constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to bear arms,” said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement. “Los Angeles County may not like that right, but the Constitution does not allow them to infringe upon it.”
This isn’t some vague accusation. The lawsuit, filed in the Central District of California, is backed by damning data. Over a 15-month span, LASD approved just two concealed carry permits out of more than 8,000 applications. Some applicants were told they’d have to wait up to two years just to be interviewed. The DOJ isn’t buying the excuses.
“This lawsuit seeks to stop Los Angeles County’s egregious pattern and practice of delaying law-abiding citizens from exercising their right to bear arms,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. “The Second Amendment is not a second-class right.”
The DOJ’s investigation, the first of its kind under the Second Amendment, began after thousands of complaints about excessive delays and intentional slow-walking of permit applications. On average, LASD took 281 days just to begin processing applications, far beyond the 90-day limit set by California law.
Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli summed it up best: “Citizens living in high-crime areas cannot afford to wait to protect themselves with firearms while Los Angeles County dithers.” The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction that would force LASD to follow the law and issue concealed carry licenses in a timely manner.
Of course, this legal challenge lands squarely in the backyard of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has built his national profile on radical gun control policies. Newsom recently backed legislation banning concealed carry in most public spaces, a law that was blocked by a federal judge earlier this year for being unconstitutional.
Translation: the state’s gun control regime is collapsing under its own weight, and now the feds are stepping in to clean up the mess.
For once, the DOJ is actually defending constitutional rights — and gun owners in Los Angeles may finally see justice.
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