The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice Thursday and will speed up licensing for eligible Californians who wish to carry concealed handguns in public for self-defense.
In the settlement, LASD agreed to bring its procedures in line with the Supreme Court’s landmark Bruen decision, a 2022 high court decision affirming a constitutional right to carry a pistol in public for self-defense.
When the DOJ filed suit last year in Los Angeles federal court, applicants were waiting an average of over nine months to receive their permits. In response to the lawsuit, LASD “drastically cut those waiting times and is now in compliance with statutory deadlines,” according to the DOJ.
“The Justice Department supports our law enforcement partners,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement Thursday. “The sheriff acknowledged the problem and devoted substantial additional resources, including new processing software and additional personnel, to cutting waiting times dramatically. We applaud their efforts and are happy to be able to bring this litigation to a successful conclusion!”
The DOJ called the settlement “a huge win for the residents of Los Angeles County and for the Second Amendment.”
In its complaint filed in September, the DOJ alleged that LASD had “systematically” denied thousands of law-abiding Californians their Second Amendment right to bear arms outside the home through a deliberate pattern of delay.
In a statement shared with City News Service, LASD stated it welcomes the settlement and appreciates the DOJ’s recognition of the steps taken to improve processing of firearm carry permit applications.
“During the last year, the department has made significant strides and has eliminated the backlog of applications for carry conceal permits,” according to the statement. “The department officially established a Carry Conceal Unit, in the summer of 2025, that is staffed by 16 full-time personnel. The application process also transitioned from a paper application to a fully automated process, making it more efficient and transparent.
“Earlier this year, the department began publicly reporting statistics on our web page on CCW permits issued to enhance transparency and provide applicants with greater insight into the process and soon will expand the public reporting to include total application processing times and other relevant information,” the LASD stated.