U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has launched a Justice Department investigation into the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department “to determine whether it is engaging in a pattern or practice of depriving ordinary, law-abiding Californians of their Second Amendment rights.”
In a Thursday press release, the DOJ explained this investigation is “part of a broader review of restrictive firearms-related laws in California and other States” by the department’s Civil Rights Division.
“This Department of Justice will not stand idly by while States and localities infringe on the Second Amendment rights of ordinary, law-abiding Americans,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, and under my watch, the Department will actively enforce the Second Amendment just like it actively enforces other fundamental constitutional rights.”
The announcement might be seen by some in the Second Amendment community as a legal “shot across the bow” of certain blue states where legislatures are currently considering more restrictive gun control laws.
In its news release, DOJ appears to be sending a signal to “blue” states with restrictive gun policies.
“Some States and localities, however, have resisted this recent pro-Second Amendment caselaw,” DOJ explains. “And California has been a particularly egregious offender. In response to recent Supreme Court caselaw, California enacted new legislation to further restrict the ability of ordinary, law-abiding Californians to keep and bear arms. And many California localities appear to be imposing additional burdens beyond those required by California state law, including by subjecting ordinary, law-abiding Californians to expensive fees and lengthy wait times associated with applications for concealed handgun licenses.”
The Los Angeles Times is quoting the L.A. Sheriff’s Department, which issued this statement: “We are committed to processing all Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) applications in compliance with state and local laws to promote responsible gun ownership. The Department is facing a significant staffing crisis, with only 14 personnel in our CCW Unit, yet we have successfully approved 15,000 CCW applications. Currently, we are diligently working through approximately 4,000 active cases, striving to meet this unfunded mandate.”
The department says it “respects and upholds the 2nd Amendment,” the newspaper reported.
In December 2023, the LA County Sheriff’s Department and La Verne Police Department were sued in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of California and several private citizens, seeking injunctive relief. The lawsuit challenged “the constitutionality of carry permit issuance policies and laws that make it extremely difficult, if not outright impossible or impermissibly time consuming, for Plaintiffs to obtain permits to carry a concealed firearm in public and therefore to exercise their right to be armed in public, as guaranteed by the Second Amendment’s text ‘bear arms,’ and as recognized by the Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen.”
Earlier this month, the District Court granted time extensions for some matters involved in the case.
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