The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department surrendered to gun-rights groups after 12 to 18 months of delays on concealed carry permits — and some jurisdictions charging $1,100 just to process an application.
The Second Amendment Foundation announced the settlement Thursday, marking a major win for constitutional carry advocates across the nation’s most restrictive blue state.
“CRPA and our strategic partners have been monitoring local jurisdictions to make sure they comply with the Supreme Court’s mandates for issuing licenses to carry firearms for self-defense. If they take too long, charge too much, or impose other obstacles to getting a license to carry, lawsuits like this force them to.”
The California Rifle and Pistol Association, Gun Owners of America, and seven individual plaintiffs filed the original suit in December 2023. Their target: California jurisdictions treating the Second Amendment like a bureaucratic obstacle course.
The complaint documented absurd roadblocks. The La Verne Police Department forced applicants through invasive psychological examinations — “an outlier, even in California,” the lawsuit stated. Processing times stretched beyond a year. Fees topped four figures.
The settlement forces LA County to lower fees, speed up processing, and — for the first time — allow non-residents to apply for permits.
“This lawsuit has resulted in lower fees, quicker processing of applications, and the ability for non-residents to apply for permits for the first time,” CRPA President C.D. Michel said. “CRPA’s efforts across California will continue, and we are now focusing on other cities and counties that are abusing the process.”
So ends CRPA v. LASD, a case we originally put together to try to deal with many different carry rights issues in California at once. Probably too many at once!
I was handling it directly until I left M&A last summer, but SAF has of course remained a plaintiff since then too.… pic.twitter.com/D6IVfuf5u3
— Kostas Moros (@MorosKostas) August 5, 2026
Second Amendment Foundation Executive Director Adam Kraut called California “the petri dish for unconstitutional gun laws that spread to other hostile jurisdictions.”
SAF has over 55 active cases nationwide — more than a dozen in California alone.
“This settlement reflects a portion of SAF’s tireless work to defeat idealogues who thumb their collective noses at the Second Amendment rights of citizens,” Kraut said. “We will continue to litigate as much as necessary to advance the restoration of constitutional rights of California residents and ensure the Second Amendment isn’t treated like a second-class right.”
The victory rests on Justice Clarence Thomas’s warning in the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision that even “shall issue” states could face legal challenges for lengthy delays or exorbitant fees that deny ordinary citizens their right to carry.
Gun Owners of California Director Adam Wilson said the settlement is “another important step toward restoring respect for the right to bear arms.”
“California officials don’t get to ignore statutory deadlines or bury constitutional rights under endless delays,” Wilson said. “We will continue fighting until every qualified, law-abiding Californian can exercise their Second Amendment rights without unlawful government interference.”
The settlement requires approval from the Los Angeles County Claims Board. A separate Department of Justice Civil Rights Division lawsuit remains pending.
