SCOTUS Denial Stands as Final Victory For Young Minnesotans’ Gun Rights

Sometimes when the Supreme Court does nothing, it stands as a victory, as it did recently when the court decided not to take a case related to a challenge to the 18-20-year-old carry ban in Minnesota brought by the Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition.

On April 21, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Minnesota’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari in Jacobson v. Worth, originally filed in 2021. The decision not to take the case leaves the last court ruling as precedent and final judgment in the case. As we reported in July of 2024, the last ruling was a decision by a three-judge panel in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to unanimously overturn Minnesota’s ban on concealed carry by young adults.

“We are encouraged with today’s ruling, that the Supreme Court was happy to let the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision that 18-20-year-olds are part of ‘the People’ who have the right to carry a handgun for self-defense, stand,” said SAF Director of Legal Operations, Bill Sack, in a press statement. “This ruling will have reverberations nationwide, where SAF is involved in multiple similar suits, seeking to restore the rights of young adults who face similarly unconstitutional laws in their home states.”

“Today’s cert denial confirms what we’ve said all along – the Second Amendment is not limited to those 21-years-old and above,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President, Alan M. Gottlieb in a press statement. “We are cautiously optimistic the denial will have a positive impact in SAF’s challenges to similar bans in other states. Our goal is to remove any impediments for adults – no matter their age – to exercise their Second Amendment rights wherever they live.”

SAF is joined by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, Firearms Policy Coalition, and three private citizens, Kristin Worth, for whom the case is named, Austin Dye, and Axel Anderson.

According to a statement by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus on X, “The Minnesota BCA/Department of Public Safety has informed Permit to Carry Instructor organizations that 18-20 year olds are now eligible to apply for a MN Permit to Carry.”

A similar case is working its way through the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which, in February, denied Pennsylvania’s petition to rehear a case challenging its ban on 18-to-20-year-olds open carrying during declared states of emergency, maintaining the Second Amendment victory the court delivered in January.