LA Sheriff’s Department Fires Back at DOJ Over Gun-Carry Lawsuit

The sheriff’s division overseeing California’s most populous county “respects the Second Modification” and processes all gun carry allow functions “in compliance with state and native legal guidelines.”

That’s the road being taken by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division (LASD) in response to a lawsuit filed yesterday by the Justice Division, which accuses it of systematically and unconstitutionally slow-walking the issuance of hundreds of hid carry weapons (CCW) permits. In a press release despatched to The Reload, the division disputed the DOJ’s characterization of its efficiency.

“It is very important make clear that the LASD’s CCW Unit has been issuing permits at a considerably elevated fee, opposite to the statistics and data cited by the Division of Justice (DOJ) in its grievance,” the division instructed The Reload. “We stay dedicated to addressing all functions pretty, promptly, and with a balanced strategy. We’re assured a good and neutral assessment of our efforts will present that the Division has not engaged in any sample or follow of depriving people of their Second Modification rights.”

The division’s protection of its weapons allowing regime got here simply hours after it turned the goal of the first-ever Second Modification lawsuit filed by the Justice Division’s Civil Rights Division on behalf of gun house owners. That go well with was the fruits of a several-month-long investigation by the feds into the LASD following years of complaints from gun house owners about software delays and different impediments to carrying firearms within the county.

The DOJ claimed that the investigation uncovered substantial proof suggesting systemic violations of the Second Modification rights of the county’s residents.

“Nearly two months after receiving discover of the Division’s investigation, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division offered knowledge and paperwork that exposed solely two approvals from over 8,000 functions, and that the Sheriff’s Division set out interviews to approve licenses so far as two years after receiving the finished software,” the Justice Division stated.

The division didn’t dispute these particular claims. As a substitute, it pointed to totally different knowledge that it stated exhibits that the division has been dramatically rising its allow issuance fee.

“Regardless of important staffing shortages, now we have efficiently authorised greater than 19,000 CCW functions since 2020,” the division stated. “Yr thus far in 2025, now we have issued greater than 5,000 CCW permits, together with 2,722 new functions.”

Though it largely touted its personal efficiency, the division did admit it was nonetheless having issues issuing permits rapidly. It blamed two main elements. The primary is an ongoing transition from a paper-based system for screening candidates to a more recent on-line platform, which coincided with DOJ scrutiny.

“Initially of its investigation, the DOJ requested knowledge from numerous levels of the CCW software course of,” the division stated. “At the moment, the Division was within the early levels of transitioning from a guide, paper-based system, Hid Weapon Monitoring System (CWTS), used since 2005 to Permitium, a brand new on-line platform that streamlines software processing by permitting digital submission of paperwork. The improve to Permitium, carried out in Could 2023, was a part of broader efforts to enhance effectivity. The Division continues to make use of CWTS, however it is going to be ultimately phased out as soon as all of the functions are cleared from the outdated system and migrated to Permitium.”

The division, now run by Sheriff Robert G. Luna, additionally blamed Alex Villanueva’s management for making a backlog of functions. It stated Villanueva by no means funded the CCW unit appropriately, nor did it anticipate the inflow of allow functions that arrived after the Supreme Court docket acknowledged a proper to hold a firearm in a landmark 2022 ruling.

“The Division confronted a backlog of functions even earlier than the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s Bruen choice in June 2022,” the division stated. “Following the choice, a surge in functions considerably elevated the quantity of backlogged instances. Since taking workplace, the Sheriff has inherited a dysfunctional system that was not funded for staffing, however has taken proactive steps to scale back the backlog, enhance the method, and set up a good and balanced strategy. When he assumed workplace in December 2022, the backlog was roughly 10,000 functions; it has now been decreased to roughly 3,200—1,300 have been unassigned and 1,900 are within the background course of.”

Nevertheless, LASD claimed it nonetheless doesn’t have the funding or staffing essential to sustain with functions, almost three years after Luna took over the workplace.

“Regardless of these efforts, the fluctuating staffing ranges stay insufficient,” it stated. “At the moment, solely 13 personnel are assigned to this unfunded mandate, and the Division continues to face a major staffing disaster. The Division has been working intently with the LA County Chief Govt Workplace to safe acceptable funding to deal with staffing issues for the CCW Unit.”

The DOJ filed its lawsuit within the Federal Central District of California on Tuesday. The sheriff’s division can have a chance to reply to the allegations raised within the grievance with its personal court docket submitting within the coming weeks.