Great news for gun owners — and a win for common sense. After years of fighting bureaucratic obstruction, Second Amendment groups like the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Second Amendment Foundation, and Gun Owners of America have reached a settlement with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department that finally holds the government accountable for honoring our right to carry.
Here's the backstory: LASD was sitting on concealed carry applications for over 22 months. Twenty-two months! That's not processing — that's suppression. They were banking on delay to do what outright bans couldn't: keep honest citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights.
The lawsuit changed everything. The preliminary injunctions forced California to start issuing CCW permits to non-residents for the first time ever — a landmark ruling that confirmed your right to carry doesn't vanish at state lines. The legislature even codified it into law (AB 1078), which means it's not going anywhere.
Now the sheriff's department is actually processing applications within the legally required 120 days. That's still slower than most states where permits take weeks, but it's a massive improvement from the multi-year nightmare before.
The case also tackled ridiculous fee schemes. La Verne was charging arm and leg for psychological exams — now they've been forced to subsidize those costs. And while Santa Clara County is still hitting residents with nearly $2,000 fees (outrageous, frankly), the precedent is set.
Is California fixed? Not even close. They've traded outright bans for expensive, time-consuming bureaucracy. But today, we're winning. Courts are listening, injunctions are working, and the government is being held to account.
This is why supporting groups like SAF and CRPA matters. Every case we fight, every injunction we win — it chips away at the anti-freedom machine. Keep exercising your rights and keep fighting with us.