Aug 13 (Reuters) – The Los Angeles County sheriff’s department agreed to speed up licensing for people who want to carry concealed weapons, to settle a U.S. government lawsuit accusing it of systematically and unconstitutionally denying Californians’ Second Amendment rights.
A settlement of the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit was filed on Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, and requires a judge’s approval. The sheriff did not admit wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
While Republican President Donald Trump’s administration is regularly at odds with officials in Democratic-led California, its lawsuit last September focused more on bureaucracy issues than policy differences.
Los Angeles officials were accused of violating citizens’ right to bear arms by typically waiting nine months to review license applications, and sometimes more than two years to interview applicants.
According to the complaint, the sheriff received 3,982 applications for new concealed carry licenses between January 2024 and March 2025 but approved just two.
The Justice Department said Los Angeles has since “drastically” reduced wait times and now meets applicable state deadlines, including that reviews begin within 90 days.
Thursday’s settlement requires the county to continue meeting those deadlines and maintain a licensing regime consistent with New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court landmark that expanded Americans’ rights to arm themselves in public.
That decision said “lengthy wait times in processing license applications” could prove unconstitutional.
Neither the sheriff’s department nor its lawyers immediately responded to requests for comment.
“The sheriff acknowledged the problem and devoted substantial additional resources, including new processing software and additional personnel, to cutting waiting times dramatically,” Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said in a statement.
Los Angeles County had about 9.7 million people in 2025.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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