Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon is going after the City of San Jose, California, over its practice of charging residents $1,600 to obtain a license to carry a firearm.
The city’s licensing scheme is obviously a way to make it harder for residents to keep and bear arms — unless they fall into a certain financial bracket.
Dhillon sent a letter to Mayor Matt Mahan, Chief of Police Paul Joseph, and City Attorney Alcala Wood, putting them on notice that the city will face a federal complaint for its efforts to infringe on residents' Second Amendment rights.
In her letter, she noted that “None of your nearby jurisdictions come close to charging a nearly $1,600 application fee for a CCW license.”
For example, San Francisco charges only $144. Berkeley charges $255 to apply and $325 more once approved. Santa Clara charges $488 up front and $488 at issuance, and Alameda County charges $347 and $346 for the same. To our knowledge, San Jose charges the highest CCW application fee in the entire nation.
The right to keep and bear arms for self-defense is among those fundamental rights necessary to the American system of ordered liberty. McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 778 (2010). The Second Amendment protects that right, and that protection operates to prevent law enforcement agencies from enforcing regulations that prevent ordinary citizens from carrying firearms in public for self-defense while they go about their daily lives. See Wolford v. Lopez, 146 S. Ct. 2032, 2047–48 (2026).
Dhillon further noted that the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen held that governments can impose CCW licensing regimes “and charge licensing fees so long as those licensing regimes are not ‘put toward abusive ends’ by, for example, imposing ‘exorbitant fees [that] deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry.’”
The city’s police officers “are charged with enforcing its abusive licensing scheme and are doing so,” Dhillon wrote.
Such law enforcement misconduct is unlawful. This letter is to inform you that as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, I have authorized the filing of a complaint in federal district court against the City. The complaint will allege that the City’s abusive CCW licensing fee denies ordinary citizens their Second Amendment right to public carry, and the San Jose Police Department’s implementation of the city’s abusive policy is a pattern or practice of law enforcement misconduct that is unlawful pursuant to 34 U.S.C. § 12601. See United States v. Cnty. of Maricopa, 889 F.3d 648, 653 (9th Cir. 2018) (law enforcement officers’ enforcement of unconstitutional municipal policy violates Section 12601).
The letter stated that the Justice Department “will consider deferring the filing of the lawsuit for a short period if the City is willing to enter pre-suit negotiations in an effort to resolve this matter.”
Constitutional rights aren’t for sale. Charging $1,600 to carry a firearm outside the home is unconscionable and unconstitutional. The @CivilRights Division is working hard to protect San Jose’s residents from Second Amendment violations! pic.twitter.com/fo6PWRZGcY
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) September 9, 2026
The city is brazenly using its licensing scheme to violate people’s Second Amendment rights without running afoul of the Bruen ruling. But, as Dhillon pointed out, charging almost $1,600 to exercise one’s right to keep and bear arms is clearly an abuse of power.
What’s even more interesting is that it penalizes those Democrats claim to care about: poor and marginalized Americans who would be most in need of the ability to carry firearms for protection.
Thanks for the coverage Jeff