Santa Monica City Council sets fee for conceal carry permits at $150
By Sam Catanzaro
Santa Monica residents will have to pay five times more for a concealed carry weapon (CCW) license than what was charged by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) before its halt in processing them for Santa Monica and other independent municipalities.
The decision was taken on Tuesday by the City Council after the US Supreme Court ruled last June that New York’s law requiring “proper cause” for carrying a concealed weapon violates the 14th Amendment. This led to an influx of applications, causing LASD to stop accepting applications from August 1, 2022.
According to the City of Santa Monica, at present, 150 applications from Santa Monica are in various stages of review at LASD, with 83 in the queue waiting for processing. The Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) began seeking external vendors to facilitate and set up a streamlined CCW license process that can be provided to its residents efficiently without extra burden on the staff workload.
Council this week finally opted to hire the company My CCW, staffed with POST-certified background investigators, data and technical specialists, and support staff capable of conducting interviews and background checks comprehensively. The background process includes application verification, packet review, address verification, local and county records checkup as well as a psychological exam and range safety course if necessary. During the meeting, Council voted to make the renewal fee $150, five times more than what was charged earlier by LASD.
SMPD estimated it would take ten hours of work per application at an estimated rate of $1,093.83 but hiring My CCW brought down the cost to $617 – $219 for SMPD staff time and $398 for the contractor’s services.
According to the City, several other police departments in LA County have already contracted My CCW, including those in Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, West Covina, Baldwin Park, La Verne and Signal Hill with different fees applied depending on their individual requirements ranging from $268-$498 per application.
During the discussion, Mayor Gleam Davis made a motion that was unanimously approved by City Council to explore banning legally carried guns in certain public spaces within Santa Monica.
