Time’s Up: LAPD Response Is “Not Enough”
On March 5, 2025 we sent a letter to the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles City Council on behalf of the CRPA demanding that they immediately devote whatever resources are necessary to reduce wait times for CCW permit applications. In the letter, we warn that a lawsuit is imminent if the City does not comply. You can view that letter here.
The LAPD responded on March 31, 2025 and claimed that LAPD did not have the resources to speed up the process, but noted that it had contracted with a vendor to do some of the processing work, and that this should speed things up.
That’s not enough.
We replied to the LAPD’s letter on April 23, 2025 and made some suggestions. If the LAPD doesn’t adopt changes quickly, a lawsuit is inevitable. Our reply letter is HERE.
Before the Bruen decision from the United States Supreme Court, LAPD stubbornly refused to issue CCW permits. Applications were hard to get. And LAPD demanded extraordinary and unreasonably “good cause” to be proven by an applicant. There were only four active CCW permits despite the City’s population of 3.8 million people.
The Bruen decision forced that to change, but the City has found other ways to obstruct the right to carry. Wait times for a CCW permit with LAPD have ballooned, and LAPD has gone back to not accepting applications when they are submitted so they can falsely claim faster processing times. Applicants being told in emails that they can expect to wait 18-22 months!
This long wait is ridiculous, and places an unacceptable and unconstitutional burden on the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The Supreme Court recognized how recalcitrant jurisdictions might play these games and warned in Bruen that “because any permitting scheme can be put toward abusive ends, we do not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue regimes where, for example, lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry.” They could see the future.
While CRPA stands by the fact that any licensing scheme is an infringement of the rights of the people to bear arms, we must insist that jurisdictions at least act within the shorter timeframe for issuance of CCWs noted in state law.
LAPD is currently violating California law, which mandates that CCW permit applications be processed in no more than 120 days. Unfortunately, Attorney General Bonta and the Department of Justice have shown no interest in enforcing that law, so it is left to CRPA to step up and work to vindicate its members rights.
Our letter warns LAPD and the City that it must propose a concrete plan to bring down wait times. If they refuse to cooperate, the next step will be a CRPA lawsuit to protect our members’ right to carry. We’ve already won a preliminary injunction on the issue of long wait times for the individual Plaintiffs in our lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and that litigation remains ongoing. If necessary, we hope to expand on that win in this potential lawsuit against LAPD. And we will of course let the US Department of Justice Second Amendment Task Force know what the LAPD is up to, and encourage the federal government to open a “Pattern and Practice” investigation into the LAPD’s actions, just as the USDOJ has done in response to CRPA’s lawsuit against the LA County Sheriff over its wait times and application fees.
Please support our efforts by donating to the CRPA! The precedent we set with the LA Sheriff and LAPD will benefit all California gun owners.