Sheriff Stan Sniff’s policy on who gets to carry concealed weapons in Riverside County is unconstitutional because it excludes legal U.S. residents, according to a lawsuit filed Oct. 19 in federal court. Sniff denounced the lawsuit, filed by a county resident and five gun rights groups, as politically motivated and designed to help his opponent in the Nov. 6 election.

In his lawsuit, Arie van Nieuwenhuyzen, a legal U.S. resident who was born in The Netherlands, argues his rights were violated last year when the Sheriff’s Department told him he could not apply for a permit because he is not a U.S. citizen. The Riverside resident and business owner said he bought a handgun for self-defense purposes, a need that extends beyond his home.

“Courts across the country have long held that legal United States residents are entitled to the same constitutional protections as everyone else,” the plaintiffs’ attorney, George M. Lee, said in a statement. “Sheriff Sniff’s discriminatory and unconstitutional policies and practices are denying people access to the right to keep and bear arms and violating the Fourteenth Amendment’s command that all people shall enjoy equal protection of our laws.” The other plaintiffs are the Calguns Foundation, the Second Amendment Foundation, the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Firearms Policy Foundation, and the Madison Society Foundation.

Sniff and Riverside County are named as defendants in the lawsuit. County spokesman Ray Smith deferred to the sheriff’s office for comment.

Sniff believes the lawsuit is meant to help sheriff’s Lt. Chad Bianco, who is challenging the sheriff in the upcoming general election. “This is purely a campaign ploy by a guy that’s not qualified for the office pulling out all the stops,” Sniff said.

Bianco campaign spokesman Andre Levesque said Sniff’s comments are “(a) typical explanation.”

“He blames others for releasing 30,000 inmates early, (for) his fiscal mismanagement, and (for) violent crime rates increasing in Riverside County,” Levesque said. “He is in charge, the buck stops with him. All of these issues will be addressed when Chad Bianco is Sheriff.”

In an email, the Firearms Policy Coalition wrote: “Sheriff Sniff’s hilarious response shows how desperate he is to deflect from what the lawsuit is about: his unconstitutional, unlawful, and discriminatory policies and practices.”

A check of campaign finance records shows no obvious donations to Bianco’s campaign by the plaintiffs.

Sniff said he has the support of “more moderate” guns rights groups such as the National Rifle Association and California Rifle & Pistol Association.

He referred to an NRA TV segment featuring an interview with rifle and pistol association Executive Director Rick Travis, who said he didn’t understand why Sniff was being sued when Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell issues far fewer concealed carry permits in a much larger county.

“The person in question in this lawsuit didn’t even apply for a CCW; (he) did a simple inquiry,” Travis said. “If you look at the actual record of Sheriff Sniff, he has a 98 percent approval rating of everybody that applies. So this is totally suspect … and just another example of poor politics that divide our community in the Second Amendment rather than bring us together.”

There are 189 active concealed carry permit holders in Los Angeles County, according to that county’s sheriff’s office. L.A. County has roughly 10 million residents.

Riverside County, which is home to about 2.4 million people, currently has about 4,000 active concealed carry permits, sheriff’s officials said. The number has risen from roughly 1,200 in 2014 to about 3,000 in 2017.

Concealed carry permits have become an issue in the sheriff’s race. Bianco has criticized Sniff for not issuing permits – the wait has taken as long as two years, per published reports – in a timely manner.

“I believe that every person who desires a concealed weapons permit, otherwise not prevented by law or psychological concern, should be granted a permit,” Bianco says on his campaign website. “ … I believe that a right delayed is a right denied. I will strive to provide the county with the services they demand.”

Sniff has blamed the slow pace of permit approvals on a lack of funding and a spike in demand following the 2015 San Bernardino terror attack. He has said the budget approved this year by the Board of Supervisors gave him more resources to process permit applications.

Sniff, who has been sheriff since 2007, is in the fight of his political life against Bianco, who finished first in the June primary and beat Sniff by more than 14,000 votes. In all, four candidates ran for sheriff in the primary, with 68 percent of voters choosing someone other than the incumbent.

Bianco has said Sniff’s mismanagement has led to poor deputy morale and puts public safety at risk. Sniff, who said he’s guided the department through tough budget times, counters that Bianco, who has received at least $850,000 from the union representing sheriff’s deputies, is beholden to a union determined to run the Sheriff’s Department.