A federal appeals court in the United States has overturned a decades-old law that barred Americans aged 18 to 20 from purchasing handguns, ruling that the restriction violates the Second Amendment.
The conservative Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined on Thursday that the federal law, which had been in place since 1968, is inconsistent with the nation’s historical tradition of gun rights.
The ruling follows the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, which significantly expanded gun rights and raised concerns about the future of other firearm regulations.
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“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 court stated in its opinion.
It further noted, “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 immediate national impact of the ruling remains uncertain, though the case is widely expected to reach the Supreme Court.
Handguns have been the most frequently used weapons in murders and mass shootings in the U.S. for decades, according to government data analysed by The Violence Project.
The Supreme Court has recently upheld a law restricting firearm possession for individuals under domestic violence restraining orders and is set to consider whether gun manufacturers can be held liable for crimes committed with their products.
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