A federal appeals court ruled against a federal law requiring young adults to be 21 to buy handguns, finding it violated the Second Amendment. The decision from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans comes amid major shifts in the firearm legal landscape following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that expanded gun rights in 2022, the Associated Press reports. The court found that people aged 18-to-20 should not be prohibited from buying guns. “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,” a three-judge panel said. the court wrote in their ruling.
In the past, the appeals court has upheld the age restriction. Since the Supreme Court’s ruling that said firearm restrictions must be rooted in the nation’s historical traditions, judges in states including Minnesota, Virginia and Texas have struck down similar laws. The Biden administration opposed those rulings. It is uncertain how the Trump administration might proceed, but the president told the National Rifle Association that “no one will lay a finger on your firearms.” The Supreme Court decided to keep a federal gun law on the books last year. The high court overturned another ruling from the 5th Circuit and upheld a law intended to protect victims of domestic violence. Those challenging the ban included the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation and the Louisiana Shooting Association. “If we can trust young adults to defend our country, we can certainly trust them to own any and all legal firearms,” said Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation. Federal law requires a person to be 21 to purchase a handgun from a licensed firearm dealer and 18 to buy a long gun from a dealer.
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