“U.S. Department of Justice Announces Second Amendment Pattern-or-Practice Investigation into California’s Los Angeles County,” a Thursday DOJ Office of Public Affairs press release announced. They’re looking into “lengthy eighteen-month delays” in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s processing of concealed handgun license applications and charge “the Civil Rights Division has reason to believe that those two plaintiffs are not the only residents of Los Angeles County experiencing similarly long delays that are unduly burdening, or effectively denying, the Second Amendment rights of the people of Los Angeles.”
“Protecting the Second Amendment rights of ordinary, law-abiding Americans is a high priority for this Administration,” the release declared, adding:
“This Department of Justice will not stand idly by while States and localities infringe on the Second Amendment rights of ordinary, law-abiding Americans,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, and under my watch, the Department will actively enforce the Second Amendment just like it actively enforces other fundamental constitutional rights.”
That is long overdue and welcome news, and it’s something some of us have been urging the DOJ to make happen for decades. Longtime gun owner advocates may recall the “Ashcroft Petition” from the beginning of this century, a project this correspondent was closely involved in from initial conception through execution and reporting. Attorney General John Ashcroft was challenged to back his (unprecedented for the DOJ) admission that the Second Amendment was an individual right with meaningful action to protect it. That, too, was primarily focused on infringements in California but applicable to all states, and based on clear precedent:
“On many occasions the U.S. Justice Department has sent teams of lawyers to force states, municipalities, agencies and officials to obey civil-rights statutes, resulting in laws being overturned and in legal actions against individuals.”
Back to the present, Los Angeles is a great place to start, but while the Civil Rights Division is looking into delays, it should also look into demographics. An AmmoLand report on concealed carry permit corruption in the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office asked some as-yet unexplored questions the public has a right to get answers for:
How do the earnings and race/sex demographic rates for permit recipients compare to the general population there and in all counties throughout California? The Democrat-dominated government there makes a great noise of how “progressive” they are, but how does that work in practice for which citizens are “permitted” to bear arms?
And don’t just do that with California.
That brings us to another Democrat-dominated state, one already called to DOJ’s attention, where legislators do everything they think they can get away with to eviscerate the Second Amendment and thumb their noses at the Supreme Court’s Bruen standard of text, history, and tradition: Illinois.
Unfortunately, the first attempt to get the DOJ to investigate a judge, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Rochford, with clear conflicts of interest, was met with deliberate indifference from the Civil Rights Division, despite being provided with evidence that:
“On 8/11/23, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled to uphold the state Assault Weapon ban. It was 4-3, with Justice Rochford authoring the opinion. She violated current SCOTUS precedent (Caperton V Massey) by refusing to recuse herself regarding blatant conflicts of both political interests (campaigned with/was bankrolled by the main defendant(s) and was endorsed/took money from a lobbying group that lobbied for the law).”
A new request for DOJ investigation has been filed by the same activist who filed the first complaint (left unnamed because he is intentionally known on social media only by a screen name to protect his privacy and employability) detailing Second Amendment and civil rights violations inherent in the state’s Firearms Owner Identification card (FOID) requirement. Among the findings in the complaint:
- The reason for the law was to dissuade minorities (specifically African Americans during a time of racial riots/unrest and distrust amongst racial groups and law enforcement) from seeking police permission to legally own firearms.
- Funding for FOID card and carry licenses is used now as a “piggy bank” by the IL General Assembly to fund other projects, leading to delays in processing (with a documented case of a 20-month wait).
- A woman with no criminal record was charged with a crime for possessing a single shot rifle in her home without a FOID.
If AG Bondi is serious that “under [her] watch, the Department will actively enforce the Second Amendment just like it actively enforces other fundamental constitutional rights,” the Civil Rights Division will dedicate the resources to investigate this complaint and also reconsider its disinterested dismissal of the complaint about the judge.
The FOID complaint follows.
Note: Illinois State Rifle and Pistol Association invites DOJ to “Come to Illinois.”
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
So, the DOJ says they will investigate and report the violation of the right to arms by tyrannical state politicians. Well, Whoopie – doo.
Just in: Labor Dept has clawed back 1.4 billion of unspent COVID funds. Trump talking about returning it to tax payers! Labor Dept has identifiend 2.8 billion more and intends to claw it back, also.
Whatever Anti-American gun INFRINGEMENTS Kalifornia has come up with, the Democrapic Sycophants in Maryland have USED AGAINST the American Citizens who live in Maryland! YES! The Maryland State Police HAVE A GUN-REGISTRY. YES! A Legal Law Abiding American Citizen MUST have a PREMISSION TO BUY a “SHORT GUN”, it is called a HANDGUN QUALIFICATION LICENSE(MONEY – EVEN IF YOU ARE DENIED)!! Then before you can buy the gun, you MUST PAY the MSP to OK that purchase(MONEY -EVEN IF YOU ARE DENIED). SEVEN DAY WAITING PERIOD! LIMITED TO ONE GUN A MONTH!! There IS also a FORBIDEN TO OWN GUN… Read more »
FOID is unconstitutional, as is every permitting system. We won’t ever ask permission, and trying to require anything like it is blatant infringement. Courts have finally ruled this, but not enough, and not SCOTUS, nor have the vile infringements stopped. No US citizen needs permission from anyone in any level of government to buy, sell, build, own, possess, carry and or use any firearm they deem appropriate for the defense of life, liberty, property, or the country.
Meanwhile Blondie Bondi lets her prosecutors continue to wreak havoc on the poor and innocent sailor Adamiak, who’s still rotting in prison due to corrupt DOJ prosecutors and corrupt ATF agents.
Where are you Blondie Bondi? Where are you Patel?
A right delayed is a right denied. Period. End of discussion. It really is that simple. Yet, demarxists don’t care about rights.