On January 30, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled against a lower court decision upholding a ban on handgun purchases by 18-20 year-olds.
The ruling came in Reese v. ATF, which was filed November 06, 2020.
Plaintiffs in the case are Second Amendment Foundation, the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Louisiana Shooting Association, and Emily Naquin and Caleb Reese.
The three judge panel consisted of Judge Edith Hollan Jones, a Ronald Reagan appointee; Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, a George W. Bush appointee; and Judge Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale, a George H.W. Bush appointee.
Jones wrote for the majority, noting that the purchase ban for 18-20 year-olds could not stand under the scrutiny of Bruen’s (2022) demand for gun controls to be able to demonstrate congruency with historical tradition:
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.
She continued, “In sum…[statues which ‘prohibit Federal Firearms Licensees]…from selling or delivering handguns to adults under the age of twenty-one. and their attendant regulations are unconstitutional in light of our Nation’s historic tradition of firearm regulation.”
Jones also pointed to Heller (2008), noting that it reminded Americans that the prefatory clause of the Second Amendment exists to “prevent the elimination of the militia.” Having stressed the importance of militia’s preservation, Jones noted founding-era documents showing 18 years as the age at which one became old enough to fight in the militia’s service.
Ultimately, the three-panel of the Fifth Circuit rule reversed the judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, remanding the case for “further proceedings consistent with [the panel’s] opinion.”
Second Amendment Foundation founder and executive vice president Alan Gottlieb cheered the decision, saying, “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.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: [email protected].
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