LA’s CCW Backlog Cracked — DOJ Drops Its First Affirmative 2A Suit After LASD Meets the 90-Day Clock

The Justice Department ended its landmark concealed-carry lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after Fox News reported Thursday that LASD slashed waits and is now meeting California’s statutory deadlines. DOJ billed the September 30, 2025 filing as its first-ever affirmative lawsuit brought to defend gun owners’ Second Amendment rights. Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon: the sheriff “acknowledged the problem and devoted substantial additional resources, including new processing software and additional personnel, to cutting waiting times dramatically.”

The numbers in the complaint were the policy. Between January 2024 and March 2025, LASD received 3,982 applications for new concealed-carry licenses and had approved two as of May 2025. About 2,768 remained pending; 1,210 had been withdrawn. Applicants waited an average of 281 days before action, with a median of 372 days. Some waited 1,030 days — nearly three years. California law requires an initial approval or denial within 90 days. At filing, DOJ said waits averaged more than nine months.

The Civil Rights Division opened a pattern-or-practice investigation in March 2025 after complaints about delays, including a court case with roughly 18-month waits. Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, when the suit was filed: “The Second Amendment protects the fundamental constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to bear arms. Los Angeles County may not like that right, but the Constitution does not allow them to infringe upon it.” Under the settlement, LASD will keep procedures designed to process applications under objective standards without lengthy delays. DOJ credited Sheriff Robert Luna’s department with the extra personnel and technology. The Second Amendment Section is still taking complaints at justice.gov/crt/second-amendment-section.

Separate litigation by CRPA, GOA, Gun Owners of California, SAF, and individual owners produced a preliminary injunction that included a path for qualifying non-residents to apply. California later changed the statute; LASD’s portal now includes an out-of-state option. A backlog is not a shall-issue system. This one just got a federal deadline attached.