DOJ Sues Glendale Over $2,000 Carry Permit Fees, Discretionary Denials

The Department of Justice has sued Glendale, California, arguing the city's concealed-carry permit process piles on roughly $2,000 in fees and gives police too much discretion to deny law-abiding applicants.

Snapshot

Filed Nov. 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the complaint targets Glendale Police Department's permit fees and screening steps. DOJ says the city's own fee schedule, Live Scan fingerprinting, training, and a psychological evaluation push the real cost of a new permit to around $2,000, with renewals near $1,300.

Key points

• Fee breakdown: DOJ cites a $1,078 city fee for new permits and $826 for renewals, on top of $93 in state fingerprinting costs, training/range fees of $300-$435, and a roughly $500 psych evaluation.
• Screening under fire: The suit challenges reference checks, interviews, social media review, residency verification, and psych testing, saying they turn Glendale's shall-issue system into a de facto may-issue one.
• Legal hook: DOJ points to a footnote in the Supreme Court's Bruen decision allowing challenges to shall-issue systems when "exorbitant fees" effectively block ordinary citizens from carrying.
• Not the first case: DOJ previously sued L.A. County (settled August 2026) and San Jose over a nearly $1,600 permit fee, both under its Second Amendment Section.
• What DOJ wants: An injunction against the fees and screening practices, plus outreach to past denied applicants offering reapplication and destruction or return of psych/social media records.

Quick take

This is a lawsuit, not a verdict, and Glendale hadn't responded in court as of Nov. 10. But the pattern across Glendale, San Jose, and L.A. County suggests DOJ is building a broader case against California cities that use fees and discretion to make carry permits harder to get than the law technically allows.

Read the full story: thefirearmblog.com