The Federal Ministry of Justice said that it has launched an investigation to find out whether the Sheriff’s Department of the County of Los Angeles violated people with excessive fees and waiting times for hidden transport permits.
The MJ announced Thursday afternoon that it opened an investigation into the possible abuse of the Sheriff’s Department of the Rights of the 2nd Amendment, part of a broader examination of “laws related to restrictive firearms” in California and other states.
The federal authorities cited a legal action which challenged the 18 -month delay that the complainants were faced with the reception of transport licenses hidden at the LASD as the reason for the investigation. A DoJ’s press release said it is likely that others “experience similar delays which are unduly falsified, or effectively denying the rights of the second amendment to the Los Angeles people”.
The Ministry of Justice described California as “particularly obvious delinquent” which resisted recent recent Supreme Court decisions in the 2nd amendment and promulgated new legislation to further restrict the right to carry weapons. Last month, Trump directed Atty. General Pam Bondi to launch an examination of the law of the 2nd amendment and offenses nationwide.
“This Ministry of Justice will not remain the United States while states and localities affect the rights of ordinary and respectful Americans,” bonded in a statement on the LASD investigation. “The second amendment is not a second class right, and under my surveillance, the ministry will actively apply the second amendment just as it actively applies other fundamental constitutional rights.”
The Sheriff department published on Thursday a declaration saying that it respects and maintains the 2nd amendment. The ministry said that the limited personnel and a backlin of applications are to be blamed for delays in license approvals.
“We are committed to processing all concealed transport requests (CCW) in accordance with state and local laws to promote the possession of responsible firearms,” the statement said. “The ministry is faced with a major staff crisis, with only 14 staff members in our CCW unit, but we have managed to approve 15,000 CCW requests. Currently, we work with diligence out of approximately 4,000 active cases, striving to respond to this unlikely mandate. ”
Data data shows that it has considerably increased the number of permits it has issued since 2022. That year, the Supreme Court concluded that the law of the 2nd amendment to bear arms laws in New York and California which could legally carry firearms outside the house. However, criticisms allegedly alleged that the process of issuing these permits takes too long and costs too much.
Jacob Charles, Associate Professor of Law in Pepperdine Caruso School of Law who studies the 2nd amendment, said that he had never seen a similar investigation before. This type of DoJ probe, which is classified as a model or practice survey, generally focuses on police misconduct such as excessive use of force or racial biases.
The investigation struck him as “another problem of cultural war that opposes red against blue” in the middle of a wider burst of “partisan targeting” by the Trump administration of jurisdictions and liberal groups.
“It must be seen in the context of Trump who attacks lawyers’ firms, universities and cities, counties and states that do not profess him loyalty personally and his vision,” said Charles. “He doesn’t even pretend to be president of all of America.”
Another law expert in the 2nd amendment, the law professor at the University of Chicago, Darrell Ah Miller, described the investigation an example of the Trump administration “delivering red meat to their supporters through each channel of power they currently have”.
“The fact that he (the investigation) has not been done before does not mean that this cannot be done, but it is clear that it simply underlines the fact that, for the Trump administration, the rights of the 2nd amendment are really important rights, in particular for the base of Trump,” said Miller, “and therefore they will use the power of the Ministry of Justice to advance these priorities.”
Chuck Michel, president of California Rifle and Pistol Assn., Celebrated the investigation and told the Times that “a result” of the trial of his group contesting the constitutionality of the transport permit concealed by the LASD.
“I think that the reason why the Doj is involved in this particular jurisdiction is due to the things we have discovered in this trial,” he said.
Michel said that it would not be surprised if the investigation extended beyond the county because, he said, other jurisdictions and police services in California, including the Los Angeles police service, are also guilty of long-term waiting time and exorbitant costs for permits.
“The main problems we are now faced with somewhat recalcitrant jurisdictions are excessive costs to go through an excessive application process to try to obtain a license-and waiting times that exceed the limit of 120 days of the state, some that go to 18 months or two years,” he said.
Bondi said that she hoped that Thursday’s announcement would encourage other localities to “voluntarily adopt their duty to protect the rights of the second amendment”. Otherwise, this survey will be the first of many similar people in California and across the country, she added.
Model or practice surveys are conducted by lawyers for civil rights at the Ministry of Justice to seek misconduct models within a given law enforcement agency.
Miller, the professor of the University of Chicago, said that the investigation had marked a strong reversal for the Republicans, who in the past have spoken against other model and practice surveys, especially in problematic police services. Recent probes have followed civilian deaths such as the murder of Breonna Taylor by a police officer from Louisville, Kentucky, and the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
“Republicans in particular have praised a lot of belief in local control and the rights of states,” he said. Now, for the 2nd amendment, “these priorities are reversed”.
Miller said the investigation is limited by existing law, which will restrict what the Ministry of Justice can find problem with waiting times and the county waiting costs.
Although the Supreme Court has suggested that the particularly “expensive” firearm license processes can go too far, it did not define what time is too long to wait for a permit or the too high license fees, he said. And because the courts have not yet established a standard, the Ministry of Justice will find it difficult to declare that a certain period or costs associated with the county authorization process constitutes unconstitutional behavior, he said.
The county could defend himself by showing that his authorization process works as best he can with limited resources and funding, he said. However, if the Ministry of Justice finds something more harmful – such as proof that the Sheriff department was intentionally and systematic slow walking permits – there would be a case to declare a model or a practice of unconstitutional behavior.
California Daily Newspapers
