The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the City of San Jose, California, and the San Jose Police Department (SJPD) over its abusive gun licensing scheme aimed at making it harder for residents to obtain a concealed carry permit.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon announced the lawsuit in a post on X on Wednesday.
The @CityofSanJose thinks they can charge $1600 for concealed carry permits and violate their citizens’ 2A rights. Wrong! The @CivilRights Division @theJusticeDept will see you in court. 🤨https://t.co/JeWI9wntBo
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) September 16, 2026
San Jose recently began charging $1,591 to issue concealed carry permits. A practice the DOJ argues violates the Second Amendment by imposing excessive financial and administrative burdens on residents.
The complaint alleges that “exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry” and that the city “is a national outlier when it comes to burdening the exercise of fundamental rights.”
It further challenges the city’s requirement that applicants undergo psychological testing at their own expense, with the effect of “making it impractical for middle class citizens and impossible for low-income citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights".
Astoundingly, $1,600 understates it.
— Kostas Moros (@MorosKostas) September 16, 2026
That leaves out the training course of $300 to $500, the $400 psych exam, and the state's fees of $93 + livescan fees.
Reaching about $2,500 to exercise a constitutional right. https://t.co/E6vUkUsZZq
Dhillon affirmed that the right to keep and bear arms “is not a luxury reserved for a privileged few, but a fundamental element of our republic,” according to a DOJ press release. She further stated, “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."
In what was likely already the highest cost in the country, San Jose, CA says its carry permit fee will be increasing by $148 on July 1st to $1,591: https://t.co/ecsO7Bw5YW pic.twitter.com/WI6QlJTABg
— Rob Romano (@2Aupdates) June 26, 2026
The city’s licensing system came from a California law that allows the police chief to issue licenses to residents after the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which requires government at all levels to grant concealed carry permits to residents who meet the requirements. In response, San Jose simply increased the price for a permit to ensure that only wealthier residents can obtain one.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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