The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation Thursday into whether police in Waterbury and Middletown, Connecticut, are needlessly holding up firearm permits for their residents, the department announced.
The inquiry will center on the permitting systems run by the two cities' police departments. Federal officials said those departments "may be unreasonably denying otherwise qualified applicants" a permit to carry and pushing them into "a potentially years-long appeal process" before they can exercise the right. The announcement did not say how many complaints the department had received, how long any application had been pending or what prompted the review, and it reported no findings.
"All law-abiding Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms for self-defense," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the department's Civil Rights Division. "This right is not a luxury reserved for a privileged few, but a fundamental liberty for all, including the residents of Middletown and Waterbury, Connecticut."
The department grounded the case in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, the Supreme Court's 2022 decision recognizing that the right to keep and bear arms applies with equal force inside and outside the home. In that ruling, the department noted, the justices warned against "lengthy wait times in processing license applications" that effectively "deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry." Enforcement of the Second Amendment falls to the division's Second Amendment Section, and the department invited residents who believe their rights are being infringed to file complaints online.
Connecticut gives local officials the first say. Residents seeking a state permit to carry a pistol or revolver apply through their local authorities, who can deny the request or issue a temporary 60-day permit while the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection completes its review, according to a state audit summarized by the Hartford Courant. A local denial must be appealed to the state Board of Firearms Permit Examiners.
That appeals route has been jammed for years. Auditors found 1,203 cases still waiting to be heard as of March 13, 2024, including 590 denials and 613 revocations, with hearings already booked through March 2026, CT Insider reported when the audit became public in November 2025. The board "receives more annual appeals than it can reasonably review," the auditors wrote, and "appellants may be denied their right to a timely hearing." The same finding had turned up in the eight previous audits, covering fiscal years 2001 through 2021. The board's current case listings include appeals still waiting for hearings in 2027.
In its formal response, the board said it partially agreed with the auditors and was "working diligently with both the towns and DESPP to resolve these cases in a timely manner." It added that a new state background check system had a security issue and was down for two months, the Courant reported.
State Rep. Craig Fishbein, a Republican who represents Wallingford and Middlefield and once served on the board, said at the time that delays in the firearms appeal process "are by extension temporary denials of the Constitutionally protected right of Connecticut citizens to keep and bear arms."
The audit dealt with the statewide appeals board, not with the police departments in Waterbury or Middletown. The federal review of those departments began only Thursday. Opening an investigation is not a finding that either city broke the law, and the department's announcement carried no response from officials in either city.