The US Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether police departments in Middletown and Waterbury, Connecticut, are imposing unreasonable delays on residents seeking permits to carry firearms.
The Civil Rights Division announced the inquiry on October 22. It said the review will focus on the two departments’ permitting systems and whether otherwise qualified applicants are being forced into prolonged appeal processes before they can exercise the right to public carry.
The department grounded the investigation in the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v Bruen. That ruling rejected New York’s discretionary proper-cause requirement and cautioned that licensing systems may not use excessive processing times or fees to deny ordinary citizens the ability to carry firearms in public.
Opening an investigation is not a finding that either municipality has violated the Constitution. The department has not yet published evidence establishing the length, cause or frequency of the alleged delays, and both cities will have an opportunity to provide records and explanations.
The inquiry is being handled by the Civil Rights Division’s Second Amendment Section. Its legal question is narrower than the broader debate over firearm regulation: even where a permit regime is permissible, its administration may be challenged if delay becomes an effective denial. Any enforcement step would depend on the facts developed and the department’s assessment of the governing constitutional standard.
