The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against San Jose, California, on Wednesday over its nearly $1,600 concealed carry permit fee, alleging the city has priced ordinary residents out of exercising their Second Amendment rights.
The lawsuit targets the California city and its police department, escalating a dispute over whether the city’s $1,591 charge reflects legitimate administrative costs or imposes an unconstitutional barrier to carrying a firearm for self-defense.
Federal officials described San Jose’s fee as the highest in the nation, saying it far exceeds comparable charges in cities including New York, Washington, Boston, and Chicago.
“All law-abiding Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms for self-defense,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “This right is not a luxury reserved for a privileged few, but a fundamental element of our republic. You don’t need a law degree to recognize that charging a fee several times higher than the cost of the firearm itself is illogical, and an unconstitutional attempt to impede Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”
San Jose increased the fee to $1,591 in June, nearly $300 above the rate it established just over two years prior. Applicants must pay $318 upfront and the remaining $1,273 when their licenses are issued, according to the complaint. Psychological testing carries an additional cost.
The department contrasted those charges with San Francisco’s $144 fee and Berkeley, California’s $255 application fee, followed by $325 upon approval. Washington charges $75 to apply, while New York charges $340 for a three-year license, federal lawyers said.
San Jose City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood defended the fee in a letter responding to Dhillon, arguing it reflects the city’s actual expenses.
Wood said processing an application requires just under seven hours of staff time, accounting for $1,243.52, with another $347.55 attributed to indirect overhead. She also said the city had reduced the staff time required from eight hours.
“Contrary to your assertions, a department looking to erect barriers to the exercise of a Constitutional right does not go out of its way to make its own process more efficient,” Wood wrote.
But the department argues that the fee lacks any historical comparison with others, pointing out that it is outrageous in part because it exceeds the average cost of some firearms.
The dispute centers in part on the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which struck down the Empire State’s requirement that applicants demonstrate a special need to carry a handgun in public. The ruling also left room for additional challenges to licensing systems whose excessive fees or lengthy delays prevent ordinary citizens from exercising that right.
Wood argued the court’s warning about fees does not invalidate San Jose’s charges because they are supported by a time-and-cost analysis.
The Washington Examiner spoke to a gun store owner in San Jose on Thursday morning in response to the lawsuit’s filing.
“Most departments [in the state] charge $500. … Now after everything is said and done, you’re looking at over $2,000 in fees,” the store owner, who wished to remain anonymous, said of the city’s permitting regime.
FEDS CHARGE 12 PEOPLE IN $10 MILLION CALIFORNIA CHILDCARE FRAUD SCHEME
“They’re making hand-over-fist with money with this one,” the store owner added. “And if you start the process today for an application, I’ve heard some people waiting to get approval by the following Christmas.”
The case follows another DOJ challenge to concealed-carry permitting practices in California. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department settled a federal lawsuit last month over application delays, agreeing to comply with state processing deadlines.