LA County Issued Two Carry Permits Out of 3,982 Applications. Now It’s Promising 120 Days.
SAF’s settlement with the LA County Sheriff’s Department hangs on one promise: every carry permit processed inside 120 days. The department’s recent scorecard was two permits from 3,982 applications.
The LA County CCW permit settlement is signed, announced, and one county board away from final: the Second Amendment Foundation and its co-plaintiffs said Thursday they have resolved the remaining claims in California Rifle and Pistol Association v. LASD, the December 2023 lawsuit that turned the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s carry-permit queue into a federal case (C.D. Cal. No. 2:23-cv-10169).
The deal rests on a single representation: LASD says it now processes concealed carry applications within the 120 days state law allows. That’s the whole settlement. The county promised to follow the law, and it took two federal lawsuits to get there.
The tally: Between January 2024 and March 2025, the department took in 3,982 new carry applications and issued two permits, according to the Justice Department’s complaint in its separate suit. Two. Not two hundred. Two, as in the number after one.
The same complaint says applicants waited an average of 281 days for LASD to even start processing their paperwork, against a state requirement to begin initial review within 90. The worst cases sat 1,030 days. That’s not a backlog, that’s an archaeology dig.
The mechanics are short: per the notice filed with the court last fall, the county pays a negotiated fee and commits to a schedule for complying with Senate Bill 2’s 120-day CCW processing deadline. One signature is still missing, though. The Los Angeles County Claims Board has to approve the deal, and no hearing date has been announced.
What the lawsuit already won: SAF credits the case with changes that reach well past LA County. A preliminary injunction forced California to open carry-permit applications to qualified nonresidents, which the Legislature later codified as AB 1078. Automatic five-year eligibility bans triggered by restraining orders that were dissolved without a hearing are gone. And the city of La Verne cut its permit fees.
“California residents and nonresidents alike now have more Second Amendment freedoms thanks to the diligent work of SAF and its partners,” said Kostas Moros, SAF’s director of legal research and education, in the announcement. SAF filed the case alongside the California Rifle and Pistol Association, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of California, and several individual plaintiffs.
The other courtroom: this settlement resolves nothing in United States v. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (C.D. Cal. No. 2:25-cv-09323), the Civil Rights Division’s September 30 lawsuit over the same delays and the first affirmative Second Amendment case the Justice Department has ever filed on behalf of gun owners. That suit seeks a permanent injunction, and it is still live.
“The Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said when the federal suit landed. The DOJ’s own review counted two approvals across more than 8,000 applications, with some approval interviews scheduled as far as two years out. So LASD’s 120-day promise performs in front of a federal judge either way.
Glock 43X (9mm, 10+1)
The slim nine that tops first-carry-gun lists: thin enough to disappear under a shirt, with a grip real hands can hold. Roster-state buyers should confirm the exact SKU their dealer can transfer before ordering.
If you’re in the queue: the clock LASD just agreed to runs 120 days from a completed application, and the LA County CCW permit settlement puts that timeline on paper. Hold the department to it. And if the permit finally lands while you’re still short the pistol half of the equation, our Best Glocks review is where we’d start.
Do you trust LASD to hit 120 days, or does the count stall somewhere north of two? Tell us in the comments.
For carry-rights rulings the day they land, sign up for the CAT Outdoors newsletter below.
Sources: the Second Amendment Foundation’s settlement announcement; the Justice Department’s press release on United States v. LASD; Courthouse News Service; NBC News/AP. Case dockets: C.D. Cal. Nos. 2:23-cv-10169 and 2:25-cv-09323.
Justin Trump is the managing editor and owner of CAT Outdoors. The son of a Vietnam veteran, he’s a Certified Glock Armorer, an avid gun enthusiast and 2A advocate. He holds two firearm patents for the CAT M4 and Talon tools. When not managing CAT Outdoors, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends, rooting for Michigan sports teams, and serving his church.