Ban on Handgun Sales to Under-21s Heads to SCOTUS

The Supreme Court will already have two cases dealing with bans on young adults purchasing firearms to consider when they return from their summer break, and more are soon to follow. 

The National Rifle Association filed its cert petition in NRA v. Glass several months ago, and the state of Florida has until August 20 to submit its reply brief in the case, which challenges the state’s outright ban on commercial sales of firearms to adults under the age of 21. 

The commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, meanwhile, is seeking the Court’s review of a Third Circuit decision in a case brought by Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition where the panel concluded that Pennsylvania’s de facto ban on bearing arms for young adults during a state of emergency violated their Second Amendment rights. 

In early July, Virginia attorney Michael Harding filed a cert petition on behalf of his clients in McCoy v. ATF, appealing a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that upheld the federal prohibition on commercial handgun sales to under-21s.

The appellate court had combined McCoy and another case West Virginia Citizens Defense League v. ATF when it heard oral arguments on the issue, and now the coalition of Second Amendment advocates (including SAF and the West Virginia Citizens Defense League) have filed a cert petition of their own appealing the Fourth Circuit’s decision.

In that ruling, Judge Harvie Wilkinson and another colleague concluded that the ban “comports with our country’s regulatory tradition,” reasoning that “a person under the age of 21 was considered an ‘infant’ for purposes of contracting, and infants were not bound by their contracts” at the time of the Founding. Even though there were no age-based restrictions on purchasing a firearm at the time the Second Amendment was ratified, and today the age of majority is 18, not 21, the panel ruled 2-1 that the law can stand. 

The dissenting judge argued that a minor’s ability to void a contract did not impose any governmental burden on their ability to enter into contracts, holding that the majority’s “evidence” isn’t an appropriate historical analogue for today’s ban on the commercial sales of handguns to young adults. He also noted that the “why” of the two restrictions differ; the contract rule was based on a belief in ‘the inability of infants to take care of themselves,” but the ban on commercial handgun sales is purportedly done in the name of public safety. 

In a press release, SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut noted that “the issue of 18-20-year-olds purchasing handguns is split between two circuit courts across the nation,” adding that the split grows deeper when you throw in other cases dealing with the ability of this age group being able to carry firearms. 

“There is no doubt that adults under 21 are part of ‘the People’ and therefore should be afforded the same rights as other adults, and in particular, be able to fully exercise their Second Amendment rights by purchasing a handgun – the ‘quintessential self-defense weapon”, Kraut said. 

SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb also underscored the importance of the case, noting that “eliminating the young adult handgun purchase ban is a key component of our broader strategy to restore and expand gun rights.” 

With a number of cases to choose from (or consolidate) and splits in the lower courts, SCOTUS, at least theoretically, should be at least somewhat inclined to take up the issue of young adults and their Second Amendment rights. It really does need to address this issue given the stakes for millions of young adults, but we’ve seen the Court kick several perfectly acceptable cases dealing with issues like bans on commonly-owned rifles aside, so it remains to be seen whether there are four justices with an appetite for a 2A case this term.

Editor’s Note: Young adults shouldn’t be written out of the Constitution by Congress, state legislators, or unelected federal judges. 

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