Whoops—No Gun Rights for Adults Under 21 After All, Says Court

Does the Second Amendment apply to 18–20-year-olds? Back in July, a federal appeals court said yes. But now, the court has taken back its earlier ruling.

The case—Hirschfeld v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives—saw two young adults challenging a federal law that treats 18–20-year-olds like children, banning federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns or handgun ammunition to them.

This decades-old rule is unconstitutional, said judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in July. "Despite the weighty interest in reducing crime and violence, we refuse to relegate either the Second Amendment or 18- to 20-year-olds to a second-class status," the judges wrote in their 2–1 decision. It was a win for Natalia Marshall and Tanner Hirschfeld, who brought the lawsuit, as well as for gun rights—and treating legal adults like adults, not children—more broadly.

"Our nation's most cherished constitutional rights vest no later than 18," the judges pointed out. "And the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms is no different."