Santa Clara County’s former second-in-command admitted two felony bribery counts tied to concealed-carry permits, iPads and San Jose Sharks tickets. Ordinary applicants were left waiting.
Former Santa Clara County Undersheriff Rick Sung pleaded guilty on September 21 to two felony counts of soliciting bribes in the county’s concealed-carry permit scandal. The permits his office rarely issued to ordinary residents had become bargaining chips for people with money and connections.
One count involved a promised donation of 200 iPads from Apple to the Sheriff’s Office. The other involved access to a luxury suite and San Jose Sharks tickets for then-Sheriff Laurie Smith and her guests. Sung was Smith’s second-in-command. His plea concludes an eight-year corruption investigation that produced six criminal convictions, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
Under the negotiated disposition, Sung must permanently surrender his California peace officer certification and perform 400 hours of community service. Reporting on the agreement says he may later ask the court to reduce the felonies to misdemeanors and dismiss the charges after completing the required terms. He will not be able to work again as a California peace officer.
Ordinary Applicants Waited While Insiders Got Permits
The contrast could hardly be sharper. In a separate 2024 prosecution arising from the same investigation, the DA said testimony established that nearly all first-time carry-permit applications submitted by members of the public in 2018 and 2019 were completely ignored. Meanwhile, prosecutors said, then-Captain James Jensen arranged for an executive-protection company to donate as much as $90,000 in exchange for permits for its personnel. A jury convicted Jensen of bribery and conspiracy.
The iPad and Sharks-suite allegations against Sung were distinct transactions in the broader investigation. Prosecutors said the iPad promise was tied to permits for Apple security personnel. The suite case concerned a businessman’s permit and access to his box at the Sharks’ arena.
Sung’s earlier trial did not convict him: jurors deadlocked, and the judge declared a mistrial. Apple security chief Thomas Moyer was acquitted in the iPad case. Sung’s conviction comes from his own guilty plea ahead of a retrial, not from a jury verdict against the other defendants.
Smith resigned in 2022 before a civil jury found that she had engaged in misconduct in office. She was not criminally charged in this permit scheme. Those distinctions matter. The proven point here is already damning enough: the man who served immediately below the sheriff has admitted felony bribery solicitation involving permits that ordinary residents struggled to obtain.
The Problem With Government Permission to Carry
For gun owners, this is what discretionary “may-issue” licensing looks like when officials control who gets to exercise a right. An applicant seeking to carry a handgun for self-defense could be ignored while people with access to the sheriff’s office found a path through. A constitutional right should never depend on whether its holder can deliver campaign money, gadgets or hockey tickets.
AmmoLand raised concerns about the Santa Clara permit investigation in 2019. The later trial evidence put sworn testimony behind the disparity between the public’s applications and permits steered to connected applicants.
The scandal belongs to the pre-Bruen licensing era. The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen rejected discretionary “proper cause” requirements for public carry. Sung’s criminal plea does not itself change California’s current carry laws or decide any Second Amendment lawsuit.
It does, however, show why gun owners keep scrutinizing the systems that replaced overt discretion. AmmoLand has covered the challenge to Santa Clara County’s costly permit process and the Justice Department’s separate lawsuit over San Jose’s $1,591 municipal permit fee. Those are separate legal disputes; neither is resolved by Sung’s plea.
The right to bear arms belongs to the people. Santa Clara’s old system gave officials the power to treat it as a favor.
DOJ Sues San Jose Over $1,591 Fee to Exercise the Right to Carry
About Duncan Johnson:
Duncan Johnson is a lifelong firearms enthusiast and unwavering defender of the Second Amendment—where “shall not be infringed” means exactly what it says. A graduate of George Mason University, he enjoys competing in local USPSA and multi-gun competitions whenever he’s not covering the latest in gun rights and firearm policy. Duncan is a regular contributor and editor-in-chief for AmmoLand News and is responsible for AmmoLand’s daily gun-rights reporting and industry coverage.
