EXCLUSIVE: Trump DOJ Sues California City Over Gun Permitting Scheme ‘Reserved For Privileged Few’

The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the city of San Jose, California, Wednesday saying its fees for concealed carry permits were so high they violated residents’ Second Amendment rights.

The Second Amendment Section of the Civil Rights Division announced the lawsuit in a press release, roughly a month after it settled a lawsuit filed against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) and Sheriff Robert Luna in September 2025 alleging the department displayed a “pattern or practice” of infringing Second Amendment rights through unreasonable delays in processing concealed carry weapon (CCW) permit applications. In the complaint, DOJ accused San Jose of pricing CCW permits so that they were unaffordable for lower-income residents, with fees reaching almost $1,600.

“All law-abiding Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms for self‑defense. This right is not a luxury reserved for a privileged few, but a fundamental element of our republic,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in the release. “You don’t need a law degree to recognize that charging a fee several times higher than the cost of the firearm itself is illogical, and an unconstitutional attempt to impede Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”

Dhillon wrote a Sept. 9 letter to San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph and City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood, offering them a chance to resolve the matter without litigation.

DOJ filed suit against Montgomery County, Maryland, in August over a law prohibiting carrying firearms within 100 yards of multiple locations, including churches. Prior to that suit, Dhillon sent a similar letter, seeking an alternative to litigation.

In the Supreme Court’s official opinion in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas warned that even “shall issue” jurisdictions (which California became after the decision) could face legal action.

“ecause any permitting scheme can be put toward abusive ends, we do not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue regimes where, for example, lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry,” Thomas said in a footnote of the opinion released in June 2022.

The city of Glendale, California, announced a similar fee increase in August, jacking the price of an initial application to $1,078, which would come in addition to fees for fingerprinting, a training course and a psychological evaluation.

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