In layman’s terms: The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Second Amendment protects the rights of adults under 21 to keep and bear arms.
On January 30, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal prohibition on the ability of adults under age 21 to purchase a handgun is unconstitutional.
In a case known as Reese v. ATF, a unanimous panel reversed the ruling of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, and remanded the case for further consideration.
The case is a result of a previous case, National Rifle Ass’n, Inc. v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives, which also challenged the prohibition on handgun purchases for adults under 21. In that case, the district court upheld the prohibition. The Reese case is an appeal to that decision.
The Fifth Circuit panel points out that the Louisiana District Court ruling was preceded by two clarifying Supreme Court opinions: Bruen and Rahimi, and after looking at these rulings, the District Court’s finding was not in alignment:
We are now compelled to focus intently on the evidence of firearm access and ownership by eighteen-to-twenty-year-olds near and at the founding, and we conclude that (1) NRA I is incompatible with the Bruen and Rahimi decisions of the Supreme Court.
The 29-page opinion was issued by a panel including Circuit Judge Edith Hollan Jones, a Ronald Reagan appointee, Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, a George W. Bush appointee, and Circuit Judge Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale, a George H.W. Bush appointee.
The beautiful summary was simple and succinct, in the spirit of the Constitution:
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 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 Reese v. ATF case was brought by two individuals, Caleb Reese and Emily Naquin, along with the Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, and the Louisiana Shooting Association.
“Today’s ruling is yet another critical FPC win against an immoral and unconstitutional age-based gun ban. We look forward to restoring the Second Amendment rights of all peaceable adults throughout the United States,” said FPC President, Brandon Combs in an email statement.
“We’re delighted the Fifth Circuit took this action,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We have always maintained that young adults, who can vote, join the military, get married, enter into contracts and even run for office can also enjoy the full rights of citizenship which includes rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment. If we can trust young adults to defend our country, we can certainly trust them to own any and all legal firearms.”
