In Philadelphia, a concealed carry permit costs $20. In Boston, $100. In San Jose, California, the same permit costs $1,591 — and the city just raised it by nearly $300 in the last two and a half years.
The Department of Justice filed suit on Wednesday.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who heads the DOJ's Civil Rights Division Second Amendment Section, announced the lawsuit against the City of San Jose and the San Jose Police Department under 34 U.S.C. § 12601 — the same pattern-and-practices statute typically used against police departments that violate civil rights. The complaint alleges that San Jose's permit fee, the highest in the nation, constitutes an unconstitutional burden on the Second Amendment rights of ordinary citizens.
The numbers tell the story without editorial assistance. San Francisco charges $144. New York City — not exactly a gun-friendly jurisdiction — charges $340. Even Berkeley, which requires a $255 application fee plus a $325 issuance fee, comes in at $580. San Jose's fee is nearly three times that.
Dhillon put it plainly: "Charging a fee several times higher than the cost of the firearm itself is illogical."
She's underselling it. A Glock 19 runs about $550 retail. San Jose is charging three times the price of the gun just for the paperwork to carry it. The fee structure requires $318 — twenty percent — upfront with the application, and the remaining $1,273 when the license is issued. That's not a regulatory fee. That's a financial barrier designed to produce a specific outcome.
Dhillon stated in the DOJ's announcement: "All law-abiding Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms for self-defense. This right is not a luxury reserved for a privileged few, but a fundamental element of our republic."
The Supreme Court's Bruen decision already established that "exorbitant fees" violate the Second Amendment because they deny ordinary citizens their right to carry firearms for self-defense. San Jose's response to that ruling was to keep the fee in place and raise it. The DOJ is seeking a permanent injunction barring what the complaint calls "abusive licensing fees" and requiring the city to reform its practices.
The lawsuit was filed under Executive Order 14206, which directed the Justice Department to investigate and challenge state and local regulations that infringe on Second Amendment rights. San Jose is the test case — but it won't be the last. Santa Clara County charges $976 across two payments. Alameda County charges $693. California has built a fee structure across multiple jurisdictions that prices working-class residents out of a constitutional right while leaving wealthy applicants unaffected.
Twenty dollars in Philadelphia. One thousand five hundred ninety-one dollars in San Jose.
The Second Amendment doesn't have a cover charge.