Appeals court strikes down federal handgun ban for teenagers

The Supreme Court may have another gun case coming its way whether it wants it or not.

A federal court of appeals has just issued a ruling that overturns a federal ban on handgun sales to adults between the ages of 18 and 20.

The ruling stated that the ban violated the Second Amendment, and I agree.

Adults

We send 18-year-old kids off to war all the time, so it stands to reason that they should be able to own a handgun if there is nothing legally barring them from being able to do so.

The court ruled that the Second Amendment “includes 18- to 20-year-old individuals among ‘the people’ whose right to keep and bear arms is protected.”

This will overturn regulations on the matter, some of which are nearly six decades old.

This is an issue that comes up every time we have a school shooting, especially when it involves a former student.

To that point, after the Uvalde school shooting, legislation worked its way through, of all places, the Texas legislature, that would have aligned the ability to buy long guns with the restrictions put on handguns.

Currently, younger adults can purchase long guns because they are associated with hunting and such, but the Uvalde shooting changed that.

Based on previous Supreme Court decisions, this law is going to fail before the Supreme Court as well, as the Court has been adamant in precedents that the scope of the Second Amendment cannot be changed in order to achieve a policy goal.

This ruling does not yet mean that dealers will be able to sell guns to adults under 21, as there was no injunction put in place.

If I were a gun dealer, I would be erring on the side of caution just in case. This likely will kick around in the courts for some time, so, for now, while it is a legal win, I would not be running to the gun store as an 18-year-old to purchase a weapon just yet.