The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday it was investigating Pennsauken, New Jersey, for violating the Second Amendment rights of citizens.
New Jersey has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, according to the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said in a Wednesday release that the investigation was intended to correct unconstitutional practices.
“I have directed the Civil Rights Division, through our Second Amendment Section, to defend law-abiding citizens from local authorities who infringe on the right to safely carry legal firearms,” Dhillon said. “Our investigation aims to discover if allegations of unconstitutional delays in firearm permitting are true, and if so, to fix it.”
“Individuals and groups have alleged to us that they have endured extensive delays from Pennsauken in responding to applications for permits to purchase of lawful handguns,” DOJ officials told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We have not reached any conclusions but will investigate whether there exists a pattern or practice of deprivation of constitutional rights.”
Applicants for a concealed carry permit in Pennsauken must provide four references, an address history for the last ten years and submit fingerprints, according to the city’s website.
Democratic Mayor Nicole Roberts of Pennsauken did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
In a June letter to Democratic Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, Dhillon said that the DOJ was launching a probe into allegations regarding the Philadelphia Police Department’s administration and revocation of the permits under the provisions of the Police Pattern or Practice Act (34 USC 12601). The DOJ also sued San Jose, California, in September, saying its fees for concealed carry permits were so high they violated residents’ Second Amendment rights.
In August, the Second Amendment Section of the Civil Rights Division settled a lawsuit filed against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) and Sheriff Robert Luna in September 2025 that accused the department of displaying a “pattern or practice” of infringing Second Amendment rights through unreasonable delays in processing concealed carry weapon (CCW) permit applications.
In the Supreme Court’s official opinion in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas warned that even “shall issue” jurisdictions (which California became after the decision) could face legal action.
“[B]ecause any permitting scheme can be put toward abusive ends, we do not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue regimes where, for example, lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry,” Thomas said in a footnote of the opinion released in June 2022.
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