LA County Sheriff settles lawsuit over delays in concealed carry permits

LOS ANGELES (CN) — The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has agreed to resolve a lawsuit brought by the California Rifle and Pistol Association and other Second Amendment advocates over the long delays in getting a concealed carry permit.

The Sheriff’s Department on Friday filed a notice of tentative settlement in federal court in LA.

“The parties have agreed in principle on the terms of a settlement that would resolve all remaining claims against defendants in exchange for payment of a negotiated fee amount and an agreed-upon schedule for defendants’ compliance with Senate Bill 2’s 120-day CCW application processing deadline,” the notice read.

In the wake of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen decision that did away with “good cause” requirements to carry a concealed firearm, California lawmakers amended the state’s penal code and, as of last year, allowed local law enforcement no more than 120 days after they receive a completed application to approve or deny a concealed carry permit.

Carl Dawson Michel, an attorney for the California Rifle and Pistol Association and the other organizations that sued in December 2023, said he was pleased that the Sheriff’s Department has agreed to expedite the permits to meet the legally required timeline for approving them.

“People have a fundamental right to these permits,” he said in a telephone interview.

Representatives of the LA County Sheriff’s Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The tentative settlement doesn’t address a separate lawsuit brought last month by the U.S. Justice Department accusing the Sheriff’s Department of a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of rights secured and protected by the Constitution.

“This case concerns more than administrative delays — it addresses a coordinated effort by defendants to nullify through bureaucratic obstruction what they cannot deny through law,” federal prosecutors said in the complaint filed Sept. 30. “When constitutional rights are deliberately delayed beyond any reasonable timeframe, they are effectively denied.”

According to Justice Department’s lawsuit, the LA County Sheriff’s Department received 3,982 new applications for concealed carry permits, as opposed to renewal requests, between January 2024 and March 2025, from which only two permits were issued.

Applicants have to wait an average of 281 days — over nine months — just for the sheriff to begin processing their applications, with some waiting as long as 1,030 days, or nearly three years, the Justice Department said.

The Sheriff Department said last month, in response to the federal government’s complaint, that, contrary to the statistics and information cited by the Department of Justice in its complaint, it has been issuing concealed carry permits at a significantly increased rate.

The department cited a transition from a manual, paper-based system to an online system that streamlines the application process as well as staffing shortages as reasons for the backlog in issuing the permits.

“We remain committed to addressing all applications fairly, promptly, and with a balanced approach,” the department said in its Sept. 30 statement. “We are confident a fair and impartial review of our efforts will show that the department has not engaged in any pattern or practice of depriving individuals of their Second Amendment rights.”

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