Published September 17, 2026 at 1:34 PM ET · Updated September 17, 2026 at 6:46 PM ET
DOJ sues California city over $1,600 gun permit fee
1 independent outlet is covering this story, first reported here by Washington Examiner. Verification: Watching (how we verify). Every headline links to the original reporting.
The Department of Justice has sued a California city over a $1,600 gun permit fee. The lawsuit concerns the fee charged in connection with gun permits.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 13 d ago, when Washington Examiner reported it. So far this remains a single-source report. The most recent report came 13 d ago from Washington Examiner.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Bruen held the Second Amendment protects carrying handguns in public for self-defense, and that regulation of covered conduct must be justified by the historical tradition of firearm regulation. McDonald made the right binding on cities through the Fourteenth Amendment. The city must therefore defend its $1,600 fee as consistent with that tradition; whether fees this size pass is not settled here.
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Kevin P. Bruen, Superintendent of New York State Police 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Thomas
New York's requirement that applicants demonstrate 'proper cause' — a special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community — to obtain an unrestricted public-carry license violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public. The Court held the Second Amendment protects a right to carry handguns publicly for self-defense, and rejected the two-step means-end framework lower courts had applied after Heller.
McDonald v. City of Chicago, Illinois 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Alito
The Second Amendment right recognized in Heller is fully applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. A four-Justice plurality incorporated the right via the Due Process Clause as fundamental to the Nation's scheme of ordered liberty and deeply rooted in its history and tradition; Justice Thomas supplied the fifth vote via the Privileges or Immunities Clause. The Seventh Circuit's judgment upholding Chicago's and Oak Park's handgun bans was reversed and remanded.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
