The U.S. Department of Justice and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department agreed on August 13 to settle the federal government’s lawsuit over delays in processing concealed-carry licenses. In its settlement announcement, DOJ said applicants had been waiting an average of more than nine months when it filed the case. The department now says LASD has sharply reduced those waits and is meeting California’s statutory deadlines. The announcement describes an agreement, not a trial judgment establishing a new statewide licensing rule.
What the federal settlement resolves
DOJ framed the case around two requirements it attributes to the Second Amendment after New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen: licensing authorities must use objective issuance standards and must not impose lengthy delays. Its August 13 release says LASD agreed to bring its procedures into line with Bruen. DOJ did not publish the settlement agreement, identify a compliance period, or describe a continuing court-monitoring schedule on the announcement page. That leaves the department’s description of LASD’s current compliance as the principal public account of the deal’s operative result.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, credited the sheriff with committing additional resources. The release specifically identifies new processing software and more personnel as measures used to cut wait times. It does not state how many employees were added, give a current average processing time, or say that every pending application has been completed. Applicants should therefore distinguish the announced system-wide improvement from a guarantee about the timing or outcome of an individual file.
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This federal agreement is separate from the private plaintiffs’ proposed settlement in California Rifle and Pistol Association v. LASD, covered by GunsNation on August 7. The DOJ release closes the parallel federal dispute. Neither announcement says the agreements erase California’s eligibility, background-check, training, fee, or firearm-listing requirements.
The application process still in place
LASD’s current concealed-carry licensing page says initial and renewal applications are accepted online. A first-time resident applicant must live in a contract city served by LASD or in an unincorporated county community; residents of other municipalities are directed to their local police department. The page also states that LASD does not enforce a “good cause” requirement after Bruen. That is an objective-standards change, but applicants still face the department’s listed qualifications and document requirements.
For resident applicants, LASD lists a minimum age of 21 and requires a firearm registered to the applicant in California. The initial document list includes California identification, proof of citizenship or qualifying immigration documentation, and a utility bill tied to the address on the applicant’s DMV record. A Live Scan remains part of the background investigation, but the department tells applicants to wait for an investigator’s instruction before completing it. None of those steps is removed by the federal settlement announcement.
Training comes later in LASD’s sequence. The department tells applicants not to take the course until the CCW unit authorizes them to proceed. New applicants must complete at least 16 hours, while renewal applicants must complete at least eight. Once authorized, the applicant has 60 days to finish. LASD allows as many as three handguns on a license and requires a live-fire course with each listed firearm. Make, model, serial number, and caliber information must match across the required records, or issuance can be delayed.
The department’s page also gives a public snapshot of processing volume. LASD reports 790 applications received and 1,156 licenses issued in January 2026; 483 received and 1,560 issued in February; and 727 received and 1,006 issued in March. Beginning with April’s count, “applications received” includes modification applications, so the later intake numbers are not directly comparable to the first-quarter figures. LASD lists 800 received and 514 issued in April, 800 received and 465 issued in May, and 745 received and 607 issued in June.
Those monthly figures count initial and renewal applications together, and the issuance total reflects licenses issued during the month rather than decisions on that month’s incoming applications. They cannot be used to calculate an individual applicant’s wait or an approval rate from the published table alone. They do show that LASD is publicly reporting both intake and output, while DOJ’s release supplies only the earlier average of more than nine months and its present conclusion that statutory timing has been restored.
Details that remain unpublished
The practical change is procedural: DOJ says the system that prompted its lawsuit has been brought within statutory deadlines after LASD added resources and software. A person applying today still must use the correct licensing authority, submit the required records, complete the background process, and wait for authorization before training. Approval is not promised by the settlement, and the August 13 announcement does not provide a remedy for a particular applicant who believes a current file is late.
The next milestone is publication of the agreement or a dismissal filing. Until then, it is unknown whether the court retains jurisdiction, whether LASD must report compliance, how long obligations last, or what mechanism addresses renewed delays. DOJ calls the litigation concluded but gives no docket number or closing-filing date.
About the Author
Nick Sawinyh - Nick Sawinyh is a father, husband, hobby farmer, and gun enthusiast from Kentucky. He founded GunsNation and writes most of what appears on this blog.
