Last updated October 2026 · By Nick Hall, who tracks New Jersey permit law and every move by the Justice Department’s Second Amendment Section for USA Gun Shop readers
Quick take: The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into whether the police in Pennsauken, New Jersey are sitting on gun permit applications for too long. It is an investigation, not a lawsuit and not a finding, but it comes from the same federal office that sued Minnesota and San Jose in September.
- What happened: On October 14, 2026, the Civil Rights Division’s Second Amendment Section opened an investigation into the Pennsauken Township Police Department’s firearm permitting system.
- Why it matters: New Jersey law gives local police 30 days to grant a resident’s handgun purchase permit or Firearms Purchaser Identification Card once the application is complete.
- What’s next: DOJ says it wants to learn whether the delay allegations are true and fix any problem it finds, and it has announced no lawsuit and no finding.
- Who to watch: Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon and Barry Arrington, acting chief of the Second Amendment Section.
When a New Jersey permit is denied, the statute sends the fight to a Superior Court judge. Delays are messier, and this time the United States is the one asking questions. I read the release, the two state statutes that set the clocks and Pennsauken’s own permit page, and the release is thinner than the headline.
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Table of Contents
What the DOJ Pennsauken Release Actually Says
The Justice Department release, number 26-1200 and dated Wednesday, October 14, 2026, says the department “opened an investigation to determine whether Pennsauken, New Jersey deprives citizens of their right to bear arms through egregious and unjust delays in issuing firearm licenses.” It says the work focuses on “the Pennsauken Township Police’s permitting system.”
“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,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. She said the point is to find out whether the allegations are true “and if so, to fix it.”
Here is what the four paragraphs leave out. No complainant is named, there is no count of applicants waiting and no length of wait, and the release never says which permit is the problem. It talks about “firearm licenses” in one place and “permits to purchase or carry firearms” in another.
And one line reads like it was written for anyone getting the wrong idea: the investigation “does not support any armed obstruction of federal or local law enforcement.” So this is paperwork against paperwork.
New Jersey’s 30-Day Clock, and When It Starts
In New Jersey, the local police chief is the gatekeeper. Under section 2C:58-3(d), the chief police officer of the town where you live issues the permit to purchase a handgun and the Firearms Purchaser Identification Card, and the State Police superintendent handles everyone else.
The deadline sits in subsection (f) of section 2C:58-3. The licensing authority “shall grant the permit or the identification card, or both, if application has been made therefor, within 30 days from the date of receipt of the completed application for residents of this State and within 45 days for nonresident applicants.” A purchase permit costs $25, an ID card costs $50, and a permit is good for 90 days with one 90-day renewal for good cause.
Look at the word completed. The 30 days don’t run from the day you hit submit. They run from the day the department receives a completed application, and section 2C:58-3 contains no deemed-approved rule for a purchase permit or ID card that sits past day 30.
Carry permits get a backstop. Under section 2C:58-4(c), once the chief or superintendent deems a carry application complete, an application that is not approved or denied “within 90 days of filing” is “deemed to have been approved.” The chief can stretch that by up to 30 more days for good cause, with a written explanation to the applicant.
What Pennsauken’s Own Permit Page Shows
Pennsauken runs its permits through a Firearms Unit at 2400 Bethel Avenue, and applicants file online through the State Police FARS portal, according to the township’s firearms applications page.
The page prints one line in capitals under both the purchase and the carry instructions: “APPLICATION IS NOT CONSIDERED COMPLETE UNTIL ALL DOCUMENTS AND PAYMENT ARE RECEIVED.” Payment for an ID card or purchase permit is made in person at the department, “Exact Cash or Money Order only,” and the fingerprinting appointment has to be made within 90 days of submitting.
Carry applicants pay a $68 online fee, then bring a $150 payment and a completed form SP182a to the department’s second floor. Because the statute counts a purchase permit’s 30 days from receipt of the completed application, any gap between filing online and the township treating the file as complete sits outside the clock, and that gap is exactly what a federal investigator would want to measure first.
Is that what DOJ is looking at? The release does not say.
Why an Investigation Is Not a Lawsuit
An investigation is the fact-finding stage. No complaint has been filed and no court is involved, and the release makes no finding that Pennsauken did anything wrong. Its own wording is “it is alleged.”
The Second Amendment Section’s page says it “investigates alleged patterns or practices of Second Amendment infringement by law enforcement,” and it lists the Police Pattern or Practice Act among its tools. That law, 34 U.S.C. 12601, lets the Attorney General sue when there is “reasonable cause to believe” a violation has occurred.
The remedy it allows is “appropriate equitable and declaratory relief to eliminate the pattern or practice.” Court orders and declarations, in other words. Not checks for applicants who waited.
DOJ also says the Supreme Court “held” in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen that lengthy waits put permitting to “abusive ends.” The language is real, but it sits in footnote 9, where the Court said it did “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.”
That is an open door, not a ruling on any particular wait. It also talks about public carry, which matters if Pennsauken’s backlog turns out to be purchase permits.
The LA County Precedent and What Happens Next
The closest template is Los Angeles County. In its August 13, 2026 settlement release, DOJ said applicants were waiting “an average of over nine months” for carry permits when it sued the Sheriff’s Department, and that the department “drastically cut those waiting times” and “is now in compliance with statutory deadlines.”
Dhillon credited the sheriff with “new processing software and additional personnel” and said DOJ was happy to bring the case to a “successful conclusion.” The Section has filed suit elsewhere this year, too. It sued Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul on September 24 over a 30-day purchase wait and San Jose over its carry permit fee on September 16.
If DOJ finds nothing in Pennsauken, the file closes quietly. If it finds waits anything like Los Angeles, the LA deal shows the fix DOJ has already accepted once: more staff, better software and statutory deadlines met.
For applicants, nothing changes today. State law still sets the 30-day and 90-day clocks, the township still runs the process, and the release invites anyone whose rights are being infringed to file a complaint through justice.gov/crt/second-amendment-section. The full permit system is laid out in our New Jersey gun laws guide.
Thirty days is the law. The real question is when Pennsauken starts counting.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Justice Department investigating in Pennsauken, New Jersey?
On October 14, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, through its Second Amendment Section, opened an investigation into whether Pennsauken deprives residents of their right to bear arms through delays in issuing firearm licenses. The investigation focuses on the Pennsauken Township Police Department's permitting system.
Is the Pennsauken investigation a lawsuit?
No. It is an investigation, and DOJ has not filed a complaint or made any finding that Pennsauken broke the law. DOJ says it wants to learn whether the allegations of unconstitutional permit delays are true and, if they are, to fix the problem.
How long do New Jersey police have to issue a handgun purchase permit or FPIC?
Under N.J.S.A. 2C:58-3(f), the licensing authority must grant a permit to purchase a handgun or a Firearms Purchaser Identification Card within 30 days of receiving a completed application from a New Jersey resident, and within 45 days for a nonresident. The clock runs from receipt of the completed application, not from the first online submission.
How long does a New Jersey carry permit application take?
Under N.J.S.A. 2C:58-4(c), once the chief police officer or the State Police superintendent deems a carry permit application complete, it is deemed approved if it is not approved or denied within 90 days of filing. The issuing authority can extend that by up to 30 days for good cause with written notice explaining why.
What can the Justice Department do if it finds unconstitutional permit delays?
The Second Amendment Section lists the Police Pattern or Practice Act, 34 U.S.C. 12601, among the laws it enforces. That statute lets the Attorney General bring a civil action for equitable and declaratory relief to end a pattern or practice that deprives people of constitutional rights. In the Los Angeles County carry permit case, DOJ sued and then settled after the sheriff cut waiting times.
What did the Supreme Court say about gun permit wait times in Bruen?
In footnote 9 of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), the Court said it did not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue licensing regimes where lengthy wait times or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry. It did not set a maximum number of days.
How do I report a gun permit delay to the Justice Department?
The Justice Department asks anyone who believes their right to keep and bear arms is being infringed to submit a complaint through the Second Amendment Section page at justice.gov/crt/second-amendment-section.
Related Reading
- New Jersey Gun Laws: FPIC, Permits to Purchase and Carry Permits
- DOJ Sues Minnesota Over 30-Day Handgun Purchase Wait
- DOJ Sues San Jose Over $1,591 Concealed Carry Fee
- New Jersey Won Its Gun Case and Nothing Changed
- New Jersey Asks SCOTUS to Hold Its AR-15 Ban Case
- Concealed Carry Reciprocity Map: Which States Honor Your Permit
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