Yesterday, a three-judge panel in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled to overturn Minnesota’s ban on concealed carry by young adults.
“This is a significant victory for the rights of young adults,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb in a statement on their website, adding, “It is one more step in our crusade to win firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time.”
The case, known as Worth v. Jacobson, was brought by four citizens, Austin Dye, Alex Anderson, Joe Knudsen and Kristin Worth with help from the Firearms Policy Coalition, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, and the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF). The citizens challenged the Minnesota law requiring that concealed carry permit applicants be at least 21 years of age.
A US District Court previously ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and the state appealed. In the appeals court decision, the panel affirmed the district court finding that Constitutional Rights cannot be denied to adults based on criteria like age:
Minnesota has not met its burden to proffer sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption that 18 to 20-year-olds seeking to carry handguns in public for self defense are protected by the right to keep and bear arms. The Carry Ban, § 624.714 subd. 2(b)(2), violates the Second Amendment as applied to Minnesota through the Fourteenth Amendment, and, thus, is unconstitutional.
Circuit Judge, Duane Benton, took it a step further by reminding us that the Constitution doesn’t grant rights, but affirms them: “First, the right to keep and bear arms is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The Second Amendment declares that it shall not be infringed.'”
The 27-page decision cited Heller, Rahimi, Bruen, McDonald and other cases that represent a growing and powerful body of precedent in recent years that affirm and protect the Second Amendment.
“We are encouraged that, yet another circuit court has correctly concluded that 18-20-year-olds are, in fact, part of ‘the People’ to which the Second Amendment extends,” added SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “This nation’s history and tradition demonstrate that the bans affecting young adults are not consistent with the right to keep and bear arms and SAF will continue to aggressively challenge these bans which create a tiered system of Constitutional Rights.”
A similar case addressing Pennsylvania’s ban on open carry for 18-to-20 year olds is being litigated in the Third Circuit.
