(JustPatriots.com)- A federal appeals court just ruled that a federal law banning the sale of handguns to young adults isn’t constitutional.
We’re sure you knew that already, but these days it takes a judge and a court case to prove it…
In a 2-1 vote, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found on July 13 that a 1968 law passed in Congress that set a minimum age of 21 for purchasing handguns is a violation of American Second Amendment rights.
Judge Julius N. Richardson, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, said in the ruling that virtually every other constitutional right applies to Americans regardless of their age, and the Second Amendment should be no different. He added that the structure and text of the Constitution, when looked through a historical lens, reveals that people aged between 18 and 20 have Second Amendment rights.
The ruling also explained how the militia laws that were in place at the time of ratification “uniformly” require people aged 18 and older to join the militia and bring their own firearms with them. It continued by saying that no historical restrictions find that 18-year-olds are not afforded Second Amendment Rights.
It’s an interesting and important victory for Natalia Marshall who filed the lawsuit in 2018. The Virginia resident filed the suit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after she was denied sale after trying to purchase a firearm – legally – from a licensed firearm dealer. Marshall said that she intended to use the gun to protect herself from an abusive former partner and against various other threats.
Another person who joined the suit had turned 21 since filing the case, rendering the claim moot, but Marshall has yet to turn 21. Had she turned 21 before the ruling, it could have meant that this historic ruling would never have been made.
The ruling reverses a decision from District Judge Glen Conrad who ruled that the 1968 legislation was legitimate because it was one of the many “longstanding prohibitions” of the sale of firearms.
The Constitution wins!
