LOS ANGELES, CA – The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil-rights complaint against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff Robert Luna, alleging a pattern and practice of effectively denying concealed carry weapon permits by imposing extraordinary delays on applicants.
According to the nine-page complaint filed September 30 in the Central District of California, LASD received 3,982 new CCW applications between January 2024 and March 2025 and approved only two during that period. The filing says applicants waited an average of 281 days just to see their files moved to the next step, with a median delay of 372 days and some waits projected to reach 1,030 days. As of May 8, 2025, 2,768 new applications remained pending, with interviews scheduled as late as November 2026.
The Justice Department argues these delays violate Californians’ Second Amendment rights recognized in Bruen and also flout California’s statutory deadlines that require an initial determination within 90 days and a final decision within 120 days or 30 days after state DOJ results, whichever is later. The lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to force timely, lawful processing of permits.
According to the DOJ complaint, by letter dated March 27, 2025, the Department notified Sheriff Luna that it was opening an investigation into LASD’s practices under 34 U.S.C. § 12601. National outlets likewise reported the department’s core statistics: only two approvals out of nearly 4,000 new applications, with waits commonly stretching many months before any progress.
LASD had not issued a detailed public response at the time of filing, according to early coverage. The complaint names LASD and Sheriff Luna in his official capacity and asks the court for a permanent injunction preventing the department from administering California’s CCW laws in a manner that violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments.
From a rights perspective, the filing underscores a principle many permit holders know well: a right delayed can become a right denied. If the court agrees that months- or years-long queues effectively nullify lawful carry for ordinary, vetted citizens, the outcome could ripple beyond Los Angeles County and signal that post-Bruen “administrative friction” is not an acceptable substitute for disqualification. For applicants, the case is a reminder to document timelines carefully, follow statutory steps, and and pay close attention when mandated processing clocks are ignored.
