The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into Pennsauken, New Jersey, over how long its police department takes to approve firearm permits. It is the latest sign that Harmeet Dhillon's Second Amendment Section is going after the quiet way anti-gun officials shrink the right: not by banning anything, but by making you wait.
What DOJ announced on October 14
In a press release dated Wednesday, October 14, the Department said it is investigating whether Pennsauken "deprives citizens of their right to bear arms through egregious and unjust delays in issuing firearm licenses." The probe targets the Pennsauken Township Police Department's permitting system.
Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, said she has directed her division "through our Second Amendment Section, to defend law-abiding citizens from local authorities who infringe on the right to safely carry legal firearms." The investigation, she said, "aims to discover if allegations of unconstitutional delays in firearm permitting are true, and if so, to fix it."
Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Photo by Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
The footnote that makes this a federal case
DOJ is leaning on a line from the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. The Court blessed shall-issue licensing, then added a warning that officials have mostly ignored.
Official record
New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, No. 20-843 (U.S. June 23, 2022), slip opinion, page 36 of the PDF.
"[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." — Supreme Court, Bruen footnote 9
Read or download the full 135-page opinion (PDF) · view it at supremecourt.gov
Plain English: a state can say yes to carry permits and still violate the Constitution if the yes takes forever. DOJ says it is investigating whether Pennsauken fits that description. The department has not said what complaints started the probe or how long the delays actually are.
A lawsuit that went nowhere, until now
Pennsauken has been in gun-rights crosshairs before. According to Bearing Arms, resident Christian Benton sued in 2024 with Gun Owners of America and the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners, alleging the department took more than four months to approve two handgun purchase permits even though state law sets a 30-day clock. That outlet also reports the department allegedly takes 90 days or more on such applications, an allegation DOJ has not confirmed.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that a federal judge, Karen Williams, dismissed the processing-delay claims last year for "lack of constitutional injury," because the plaintiffs eventually got their permits. What remains in that case is a challenge to New Jersey's one-handgun-a-month law. Bearing Arms notes a hearing is set for mid-January.
A lawful-carry notice on a store window in Fredonia, New York (illustrative, not in Pennsauken). Photo by Baron Maddock, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Think about what that ruling means. A court said that if you finally got your permit, you were not hurt by waiting months for it. DOJ's release treats the delay itself as the violation. The Inquirer says the township and DOJ both declined to comment, and the township's own website says the process typically takes four to six weeks when there are no problems. Those competing numbers are exactly what an investigation is for.
This is a pattern, not a one-off
Bearing Arms reported on September 17 that DOJ sent a pre-litigation demand to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul over waiting periods, with Dhillon posting that "a right delayed is a right denied." The same report says DOJ had sued San Jose over its concealed carry permit fee the day before. In each case the target is the paperwork, not the gun.
That matters because paperwork is where a hostile jurisdiction can still slow a right down after Bruen: more forms, more fees, more months. A federal division that now includes one of the original Benton lawyers, Stephen Stamboulieh, changes the odds for gun owners who used to fight these battles alone and out of pocket.
What to watch
An investigation is not a finding. DOJ has proved nothing yet, and Pennsauken has had no chance to answer in public. But the Second Amendment Section invites complaints at justice.gov/crt/second-amendment-section, and Dhillon has now put three jurisdictions on notice in under a month. If you live somewhere that makes a law-abiding citizen wait months to exercise a right the Supreme Court has said is not second-class, the federal government just told you who to call.
