Appeals Court Rules Banning Gun Sales to Adults Under 21 Unconstitutional
The ruling follows a 2022 Supreme Court decision expanding gun rights, sparking legal challenges to state and federal firearm regulations.
BATON ROUGE, La. — A U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday that a federal law restricting handgun sales to adults under 21 violates the Second Amendment, marking a significant shift in the legal landscape surrounding gun rights.
The decision was issued by a panel of three judges on the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. It follows a broader trend sparked by a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that expanded gun rights, prompting numerous legal challenges to state and federal firearm restrictions.
The court determined that young adults between the ages of 18 and 20 should not be prohibited from purchasing firearms. "Ultimately, the text of the Second Amendment includes eighteen-to-twenty-year-old individuals among ‘the people’ whose right to keep and bear arms is protected," the judges wrote in their ruling. The case was sent back to a lower court for further proceedings.
In prior rulings, the 5th Circuit had upheld the age restriction. However, following the Supreme Court's 2022 decision requiring firearm laws to be based on historical traditions, similar restrictions in states like Minnesota, Virginia, and Texas have been struck down.
The Biden administration had fought these rulings, though the future course of action under a potential Trump administration remains unclear. Trump, speaking to an NRA audience last year, declared that "no one will lay a finger on your firearms."
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had recently upheld a federal law intended to protect victims of domestic violence, overturning a different decision from the 5th Circuit.
The ruling was supported by organizations such as the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation, and the Louisiana Shooting Association. Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, argued, “If we can trust young adults to defend our country, we can certainly trust them to own any and all legal firearms.”
Under federal law, individuals must be 21 to purchase a handgun from a licensed dealer, though they can buy long guns from a dealer at age 18. The law also allows 18-year-olds to purchase handguns from unlicensed sellers and imposes no age restrictions on long guns.
The Giffords Law Center criticized the ruling, calling it reckless and asserting that age restrictions play a key role in reducing gun violence. "We hope the current law will be ultimately upheld," said David Pucino, the center's legal director.