CRPA & SAF Sue Santa Clara Over $2K CCW Fees

The California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA) has teamed up with the Second Amendment Foundation to sue Santa Clara County over outrageous CCW Fees and requirements, claiming the procedure and the price tag render the application process unconstitutional. 

How onerous is the process? According to the CRPA, the fees required by the county to apply for a CCW cost upwards of $1000, but that’s only the beginning. Additional expenses include a $400 training course and $500 psychological exam, both of which are mandatory. Throw in a set of fingerprits and you’re looking at a $2000 bill to exercise that which is supposed to be an inalienable right. 

The lawsuit further alleges that the sheriff’s demand that all applicants undergo an intrusive psychological evaluation, without cause, prejudices law-abiding Americans as if they are mentally unfit until proven otherwise. CRPA claims that the assessment is a brazen attempt to institute a subjective process by which citizens are granted access to their Constitutional rights, such as the former “good cause” provision that was struck down in the landmark 2022 Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.

“As CRPA has pursued our CCW Reckoning Project, we’ve encountered many jurisdictions resist[ing] the clear mandate of Bruen, even when we’ve supplied specific guidance on how their CCW processes must adapt… Santa Clara has continually doubled down but with this lawsuit today, we are sending the message that enough is enough,” noted CRPA President & General Counsel Chuck Michel. 

As if that were not enough, the complaint also raises questions about the county’s CCW application website, which “strongly implies that campaign contribution disclosures are part of the licensing process,” suggesting applicants must comply with the Levine Act, a California law designed to prevent “pay-to-play” corruption by restricting campaign contributions made to state and local officials by parties involved in a pending proceeding. What could this possibly have to do with obtaining a CCW, other than a nefarious intent to act punitively against Americans’ First and Second Amendment rights?

And just when you thought we’ve reached the height of California idiocy, everything we’ve talked about here applies to a period of two years. Yes, you read that correctly. $2000 to obtain your CCW, lasting you 24 months before having to reapply for permission to exercise your Constitutionally guaranteed right.

I can’t say I’m surprised by any of this, as liberal states have long since been in the business of passing laws for the purpose of circumventing the law of the land. Why not? The federal government, whose single most important duty is to preserve and defend those rights, is just as guilty. Further, these leftist states can be ruled against in any court, up to and including the Supreme Court, to which they respond by ignoring orders and continuing to impose their will as they please against law-abiding Americans. We must either all follow the rules or defy them collectively, but it is time to fight back against this multi-tiered abomination, and it’s also about time we see judges with the testicular fortitude to impose contempt charges on lawmakers, governors, sheriffs, or any other rogue official who thinks they are entitled to cherry-pick the rulings they want to comply with, and disregard the others. 

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