Appeals Court rules dealers can sell handguns to 18-year-olds

According to the Gun Control Act of 1968 a person under the age of 21 cannot purchase a handgun or ammunition from a dealer. This does not mean an adult under the age of 21 cannot own or purchase a handgun, they can buy handguns in a private sale, just not through a dealer. (You would think if there was going to be a restriction it would be the other way around but this is the Federal Government we are talking about.)

However that could be about to change as a Federal appeals court has ruled it is unconstitutional to prohibit an adult from exercising their Constitutional right, here is more:

A 53-year-old law preventing federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns or handgun ammunition to adults under the age of 21 is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

A divided panel on the Richmond, Va.-based Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a Virginia federal judge’s ruling upholding the federal Gun Control Act of 1968.

“When do constitutional rights vest? At 18 or 21? 16 or 25? Why not 13 or 33?” asked US Circuit Judge Julius Richardson in his ruling. “In the law, a line must sometimes be drawn. But there must be a reason why constitutional rights cannot be enjoyed until a certain age. Our nation’s most cherished constitutional rights vest no later than 18. And the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms is no different.”

Richardson, who was appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, went on to note that 18-to-20-year-olds “enjoy almost every other constitutional right, and they were required at the time of the Founding to serve in the militia and furnish their own weapons … 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 Biden administration’s war on the Second Amendment is just starting to ramp up so you can rest assured this decision will not go unchallenged, but for now chalk one up for the good guys.