A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that a law stipulating a minimum age of 21 years to purchase handguns is unconstitutional, citing in part the history of firearm use in its connection with militia service.
A three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans — which has been behind some of the nation’s most conservative rulings on issues like abortion, gun rights and immigration — wrote in its ruling that 18- to 20-year-olds should not be barred from making handgun purchases.
The panel said it disagrees with the federal government’s argument that age restrictions on the purchase of handguns do not infringe on the Second Amendment because those between the ages of 18 and 20 are not counted among “the people” protected by the constitutional right to bear arms. The court pointed to the Militia Act of 1792 as evidence for its reasoning.
“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. “The federal government has presented scant evidence that eighteen-to-twenty-year-olds’ firearm rights during the founding-era were restricted in a similar manner to the contemporary federal handgun purchase ban, and its 19th century evidence ‘cannot provide much insight into the meaning of the Second Amendment when it contradicts earlier evidence.’”
The ruling does not mean that licensed firearms dealers can now begin selling handguns to those in the age range at issue. The court did not issue a temporary injunction on the ban, instead punting the case back to a lower court for consideration. But its decision means it’s more likely that the issue of older teenagers buying handguns will make its way to the Supreme Court.
Firearm deaths are the leading cause of death for those between ages 18-25, according to KFF, a nonprofit that focuses on health policy. Federal law currently restricts handgun purchases from a licensed seller to those 21 and older, and long gun purchases to those 18 and older, according to gun safety advocacy group Everytown For Gun Safety. But 18-year-olds can buy handguns from unlicensed dealers, and there is no age limit on such purchases for long guns.