By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Continuing along the course set by recently-departed Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon as head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the DOJ has filed a lawsuit against the city of Glendale, California “for violating citizens’ fundamental rights under the Second Amendment by requiring unreasonable fees to obtain concealed carry permits.”
“The Department of Justice is committed to protecting law abiding citizens’ right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Jesus Osete in a DOJ news release. “The City of Glendale cannot impose unreasonable fees and unbridled discretion that undermines that core constitutional right.”
The announcement on DOJ’s Facebook page brought a slew of positive reactions.
The Santa Clara Valley Signal is reporting that the city charges “an initial fee of $1,078 for a standard two-year concealed carry weapon license, with renewals costing $826, according to the Glendale Police Department’s website.” Applicants are also charged additional fees for fingerprinting, training and a “psychological evaluation.” This brings the total cost for just applying to about $2,000.
“These exorbitant amounts are a stark contrast to costs from the previous fiscal year when Glendale PD required only a $100 fee for first-time applicants and a $25 fee for renewals,” DOJ said in a news release.
“The right to bear arms is a fundamental right the Founding Fathers enshrined during our republic’s earliest years,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California, in the DOJ’s release. “Exorbitant government fees that interfere with this right are abhorrent to our Constitution and our nation’s founding principles. This Justice Department will not stand by and watch our freedoms be eroded.”
License renewals cost about $1,300.
According to the Justice Department, “It is well established that concealed carrying is a right. New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1, 38 n. 9, 70 (2022). Glendale PD’s permitting fees are an unreasonable barrier to exercising that right, and its permitting regime lacks the ‘narrow, objective, and definite standards’ which Bruen requires. Glendale PD’s policies and practices, therefore, violate the fundamental rights to keep and bear lawful firearms.
“The Second Amendment Section of the Civil Rights Division enforces the Second Amendment, the Police Pattern or Practice Act (34 U.S.C. § 12601), and Executive Order 14206. If you are a current or prospective gun owner and believe that a state or local government has infringed your right to keep and bear arms, please submit a complaint through www.justice.gov/crt/second-amendment-section.”
Dhillon left the Justice Department last week, following the midterm elections. She had reportedly been planning to return to private practice since sometime in October, but had been asked to stay on the job until after the elections. She spearheaded the Civil Rights Division’s Second Amendment Section, which had never before existed at DOJ.
