Shall Not Be Infringed: 5th Circuit Rules Handgun Restriction is Unconstitutional

Eric V. | 7:00 AM on January 31, 2025

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a provision of the Gun Control Act of 1968 that bans the sale of handguns to adults under the age of 21 is unconstitutional.

The 3-judge panel ruled that the federal ban on handgun sales to 18 to 20-year-olds was in violation of the 2nd Amendment.

Fifth Circuit Says Under-21s Have 2A Right to Buy Handgunshttps://t.co/7Lk87hi65N
— Bearing Arms (@BearingArmsCom) January 30, 2025

The Biden administration argued that 'The people's Right to Keep and bear arms' did not apply to those under the age of 21.

There are no age or maturity restrictions in the plain text of the Amendment, as there are in other constitutional provisions. See, e.g., U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 2 (members of the House of Representatives must be at least 25 years old). This suggests that the Second Amendment lacks a minimum age requirement. Moreover, in the unamended Constitution and Bill of Rights, th ephrase “right of the people” appears in the First Amendment’s Assembly-and-Petition Clause, the Fourth Amendment’s Search-and-Seizure Clause, and the Ninth Amendment. All of these references confer “individual rights” and undoubtedly protect eighteen-to-twenty-year-olds as much as twenty-one-year-olds. In fact, with modifications, the rights they confer extend to younger minors.

The 5th Circuit concluded that the federal law did not meet the historical tradition of firearm regulation established by the Supreme Court's Bruen ruling.

Under Bruen, the government has the burden of demonstrating that a law restricting conduct covered by "the Second Amendment's plain text" is "consistent with this Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation." The 5th Circuit concluded that the government's defense of Section 922(b)(1) failed that test.

Hopefully this marks the end of the Reese case. It's now up to the Trump administration to decide whether to appeal the Fifth Circuit's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court or to let the decision stand unopposed. Trump has said he won't lay a finger on our Second Amendment rights, and this might be the first test of that promise.

As of this writing, there has been no official comment on the ruling from the Trump Administration.

If you're old enough to be in the military, you're old enough to learn to use a firearm!
— Ben Davis (@Ben10_Maverik51) January 31, 2025

FREEDOM WINS! 18-YEAR-OLDS can serve, vote, and pay taxes—they sure as hell can OWN A FIREARM! 🇺🇸🔥
— Lieutenant Colonel Reagan (@bobbyr75) January 31, 2025