Justice Department Opens Civil Rights Investigation Into New Jersey Township Over Gun Permit Delays

The Department of Justice unfortunately has no shortage of work when it comes to going after blue state officials suppressing Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

According to a Justice Department news release from Wednesday, the agency has opened an investigation into Pennsauken, New Jersey, to determine whether the process for acquiring a firearms license is unjustifiably lengthy and difficult.

The focus is on the Pennsauken Township Police’s permitting system.

The DOJ said the system “deprives citizens of their right to bear arms through egregious and unjust delays in issuing firearm licenses.”

The Daily Caller News Foundation noted some of the specific obstacles of obtaining a permit.

An applicant for concealed carry needs four references, an address history for the last 10 years, and fingerprints.

That’s quite a lot for a right given by God, and recognized by the Constitution, to defend oneself.

The Justice Department news release added that “it is a violation of the Second Amendment for government officials to delay issuing permits to purchase or carry firearms.”

The agency also cited the 2022 Supreme Court decision New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen, noting that “a state’s permitting process is put towards ‘abusive ends’ when ‘lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry.’”

Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon echoed much of the release’s comments via X, saying that her office “is investigating whether Pennsauken, NJ, is preventing residents from timely obtaining purchase permits to legally acquire firearms.”

“The right to bear arms is protected by the Constitution for every American — it is not a second-class right!”

The @CivilRights Division is investigating whether Pennsauken, NJ, is preventing residents from timely obtaining purchase permits to legally acquire firearms. The right to bear arms is protected by the Constitution for every American—it is not a second-class right!

https://t.co/B0vlZLoS7r

— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) October 14, 2026

For context, Pennsauken sits across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

For 2025, Security.org ranked Philadelphia as the 8th highest in crime for the entire country.

Pennsauken residents without the means to defend themselves could be left at the mercy of criminals.

But that information is tangential to the real issue at play in the right to keep and bear arms.

It should not matter if Pennsauken is the safest place on earth or the most violent.

These are rights upon which government cannot infringe.

The Justice Department should strip this process for Pennsauken down to the simplest one possible.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post Justice Department Opens Civil Rights Investigation Into New Jersey Township Over Gun Permit Delays appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.