The Justice Department has sued San Jose over the California city’s nearly $1,600 fee for residents to obtain a firearms carry permit, saying the “exorbitant” rate unconstitutionally burdens Second Amendment rights.
Federal officials said the city’s fee is far more than charged by big cities with strict gun control policies such as New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington.
“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,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said Wednesday in announcing the lawsuit.
The city hiked its fee to $1,591 earlier this year, requiring 20% — $318 — up front, and the rest when the license is issued.
That’s a nearly $300 increase since the city’s last fee raise 2½ years ago, federal lawyers said.
DOJ said the resolution the city adopted to hike the fee doesn’t offer a justification for the new price.
The city also requires a psychological test, at the applicant’s cost.
Nearby San Francisco charges just $144 for a permit, and Berkeley asks for $255 to apply and $325 once approved, DOJ said. Washington’s fee is just $75 to apply, and New York offers a three-year license for $340.
“San Jose is a national outlier when it comes to burdening the exercise of fundamental rights. Its fees are abusive and violate the Second Amendment,” the lawsuit said.
DOJ had telegraphed the lawsuit in a letter earlier this month.
City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood, in a letter responding to Ms. Dhillon on Tuesday, defended the fee as the cost the city incurs to issue permits.
She said it takes 6½ hours of staff time to process an application, which accounts for $1,243.52 of the cost. That works out to nearly $200 an hour for the city’s time.
The remaining $347.55 is “indirect overhead.”
Ms. Wood also said the city has reduced the staff time, which used to be 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,” she wrote.
The lawsuit comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen case, where the justices struck down state laws that demanded residents show good cause before being able to get concealed carry permits. The high court said those state laws infringed on core Second Amendment rights.
In the ruling, the court also chided states over exorbitant fees.
Ms. Wood, though, said she didn’t think that language applied to San Jose since its fees can be justified based on the time and cost analysis.
DOJ had previously sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, saying it was slow-walking decisions on concealed carry permits. The city reached a settlement last month, committing to making decisions within 90 days.
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