The Justice Department is suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, alleging it is purposely stalling conceal carry license applcations. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, accusing it of denying residents their right to bear arms by deliberately stalling their concealed carry license application process.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, arguing that the sheriff's office was violating the Second Amendment rights of those seeking a concealed carry license "through a deliberate pattern of unconscionable delay that renders this constitutional right meaningless in practice."
The Justice Department said it was its first-ever affirmative lawsuit in support of gun owners.
"The Second Amendment protects the fundamental constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to bear arms. Los Angeles County may not like that right, but the Constitution does not allow them to infringe upon it," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
