DOJ Probes New Jersey Town Over Gun-Permit Delays

The Justice Department on Wednesday, October 14 opened an investigation into whether Pennsauken, New Jersey deprives citizens of their right to bear arms through what the department calls egregious and unjust delays in issuing firearm licenses. The probe focuses on the permitting system run by the Pennsauken Township Police.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said she directed the division's Second Amendment Section to defend law-abiding citizens from local authorities who infringe on the right to safely carry legal firearms. The department's announcement says the investigation “aims to discover if allegations of unconstitutional delays in firearm permitting are true, and if so, to fix it.”

The department's position is that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear firearms, including the right to carry them, and that government officials violate it when they delay issuing permits to purchase or carry. The announcement points to the Bruen decision, which held that a permitting process is put to abusive ends when lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry. It is alleged that Pennsauken, through its police department, uses just such tactics to improperly limit Second Amendment rights, the department said.

The department added that the investigation does not support any armed obstruction of federal or local law enforcement. The Second Amendment Section enforces the Second Amendment, and the department invites anyone who believes their right to keep and bear arms is being infringed to submit a complaint to the section.