SAF Win in Challenge of Young-Adult Purchase Ban
Posted on: Feb 04, 2025
BELLEVUE, WA The Second Amendment Foundation has scored an important victory in its challenge of a federal prohibition on handgun sales to young adults with a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court decision and remand the case back for further action.
SAF is joined in the case by the Firearms Policy Coalition, Louisiana Shooting Association and two private citizens, Emily Naquin and Caleb Reese, for whom the case is named. The case is known as Reese v. ATF.
Writing for the court, Circuit Judge Edith Hollan Jones, a Ronald Reagan appointee, stated, 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. In sum, 18 U.S.C. §§ 992(b)(1), (c)(1) and their attendant regulations are unconstitutional in light of our Nations historic tradition of firearm regulation. We REVERSE the district courts judgment and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Joining Judge Jones are Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, a George W. Bush appointee, and Circuit Judge Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale, a George H.W. Bush appointee. Their decision relies on guidelines set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2022 Bruen ruling.
Were delighted the Fifth Circuit took this action, said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. 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.
Today
the Fifth Circuit reaffirmed what prior courts and common sense tell us: that
the right to keep and bear arms surely implies the ability to purchase them,
said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. Adults 18-20 years old are
indisputably part of the People, whose rights under the Constitution are no
less than their fathers or their grandfathers.
The Second Amendment Foundation (saf.org) is the nations oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the fundamental rights of individuals enshrined in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. SAF engages in aggressive legal action to ensure the principles of armed self-defense, personal liberty, and the ownership of arms are defended, secured, and restored. Through public education initiatives, SAF teaches the importance of the Second Amendment to promote a society that values and exercises the right to keep and bear arms.
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