Published September 18, 2026 at 5:11 PM ET · Updated September 18, 2026 at 7:08 PM ET
DOJ sues San Jose over $1,591 concealed carry fee
1 independent outlet is covering this story, first reported here by AmmoLand. Verification: Watching (how we verify). Every headline links to the original reporting.
The Department of Justice has sued the city of San Jose over its $1,591 concealed carry permit fee. The lawsuit concerns the cost imposed on residents seeking to carry concealed firearms.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 12 d ago, when AmmoLand reported it. So far this remains a single-source report. The most recent report came 12 d ago from AmmoLand.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen held the Second Amendment protects public carry for self defense, and once the plain text covers conduct, government must justify a regulation with the historical tradition of firearm regulation. McDonald v. City of Chicago applied the right to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The question is whether San Jose can justify its fee on that history.
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
