Back in 2017, the Auditor of the State of California audited the San Diego County Sheriff's Department's concealed carry weapons (CCW) licenses. One of its recommendations was for the Sheriff's Department to raise the fees associated with applying for a CCW. The reason? Revenue.
"To ensure that it maximizes allowable revenue from its CCW program, San Diego should immediately pursue increasing its initial, renewal, and amendment fees to the maximum amounts allowable under state law," the audit findings determined.
A new report determined that San Diego County failed to implement the recommendation. But it's not that the county never got around to implementing the recommendation. It disagreed with the determination and the reasoning the fee increase was suggested.
"In 2017, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department was made aware of the findings and recommendations by the State Auditor from the report on Concealed Weapons Licenses. The recommendations that were suggested were taken into account and changes were implemented in 2018. The changes reflected all of the recommendations except for the proposed increase of fees," a spokesperson for the San Diego County Sherrif's Department told ABC 10. "The Sheriff's Department did not agree on placing a high fee that would otherwise prevent the issuance of a CCW for a qualified and genuine necessity solely because of financial hardship. The adjustment of those fees is now mandated by the state with the passage and implementation of Assembly Bill 1297 this year. Sheriff's Financial Services is currently looking at our business practice for reviewing the fees collected. That fee will ultimately need to be approved by the Board of Supervisors."
The thing that's amazing about gun control proponents is this: they're typically Democrats who want to disarm people, but in the same breath, they also want to make sure that poor minority communities are afforded the same rights as rich white neighborhoods.
The Second Amendment was implemented for every American. A person shouldn't be prohibited from being able to defend themselves or their loved ones because of finances. If anything, Democrats should be outspoken about this. Raising fees is one of the ways the rich and powerful stay rich and powerful, by making something so difficult to obtain that only a select few can exert that right.
