The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced an investigation into the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s handling of gun permit applications.
The DOJ said in a news release that it was determining whether the department was “engaging in a pattern or practice of depriving ordinary, law-abiding Californians of their Second Amendment rights.”
The investigation was spurred by federal court decisions determining that the “law and facts [we]re clearly in … favor” of two plaintiffs challenging 18-month delays in processing concealed handgun permit applications.
President Donald Trump’s DOJ says California has been “egregious” when it comes to violating the second-amendment rights of its citizens.
The department accused state localities, like the LASD, of using “expensive fees and lengthy weight times” in an attempt to violate the constitutional right to bear arms.
“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 LASD has not yet commented publicly on the investigation.
