Federal court rules ATF age limits on handgun sales violate Second Amendment
A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled a nationwide ban on handgun sales to young adults is unconstitutional.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans found a federal law that prohibits adults aged 18-20 from buying handguns violates the Second Amendment. The ruling comes as key firearms regulations have been struck down across the country following a landmark Supreme Court decision that expanded gun rights in 2022.
"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 opinion of the court states. The decision refers the case back to a lower court judge.
Massie And Other Republicans Push 'National Constitutional Carry Act' To Protect Americans' Gun Rights
Previously, the appeals court had upheld the requirement that adults must be at least 21 to purchase a handgun. But since the Supreme Court's decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, judges are required to determine if a firearm restriction being challenged is firmly rooted in the nation's historical traditions. Judges in Minnesota, Virginia and Texas have already found that state laws restricting handgun sales to young adults do not pass that test.
The Biden administration fought those rulings, but the Trump administration is expected to be friendlier towards gun rights. At a National Rifle Association event last year during the presidential campaign, President Donald Trump said, "no one will lay a finger on your firearms."
Read On The Fox News App
Constitutional law attorney and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley observed that the Trump administration may not appeal the fifth circuit's decision, which could mean the Supreme Court will not have a chance to review it.
"For gun rights advocates, it may have been better if this decision had been handed down during the Biden Administration," Turley posted on X. "The Trump Administration will likely support the ruling and not appeal to the Supreme Court. Such an appeal could have extended this precedent nationally."
Biden Admin Drops Its 'Zero Tolerance' Policy Targeting Gun Dealer Licenses Over Paperwork Errors
The Supreme Court, meanwhile, decided to keep a federal gun law on the books last year. The high court overturned a different ruling from the 5th Circuit and upheld a law intended to protect victims of domestic violence.
"Today's ruling is yet another critical FPC win against an immoral and unconstitutional age-based gun ban," said Firearms Policy Coalition President Brandon Combs in a statement. Two FPC members sued to overturn the law, along with the Second Amendment Foundation and the Louisiana Shooting Association.
Supreme Court Makes Decision On Gun Law Challenges In Delaware, Maryland
"We look forward to restoring the Second Amendment rights of all peaceable adults throughout the United States," Combs added.
Federal law requires a person to be 21 to purchase a handgun from a licensed firearm dealer and 18 to buy a long gun from a dealer, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. There is an 18-year-old minimum for handgun purchases from unlicensed sellers and no minimum age for long guns, according to the group's research.
Click To Get The Fox News App
"The law that prohibits dealers from selling handguns to those under twenty-one is both constitutional and crucial for public safety," said Janet Carter, senior director of issues and appeals at Everytown Law. "Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens, and 18-to-20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of adults 21 and over, according to FBI statistics."
"We hope the federal government will fight this reckless ruling by seeking rehearing en banc, or taking the case directly to the Supreme Court. We look forward to supporting the defense of this common sense law."Original article source: Federal court rules ATF age limits on handgun sales violate Second Amendment
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
12 minutes ago
- New York Post
Washington Post media critic admits failure in scrutinizing Biden coverage after ‘Where's Jackie' gaffe
Advertisement Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple reflected on his own 'failure' Monday in scrutinizing press coverage of Joe Biden and his cognitive decline, particularly after the infamous 'Where's Jackie?' gaffe. As the legacy media continues to face a reckoning over how it handled covering the former president's mental acuity before his disastrous 2024 debate performance, Wemple wrote a scathing piece calling out news organizations for not admitting any errors with the headline, 'Did legacy media fail in its Biden coverage? Not if you ask them!' In his lengthy critique, Wemple revisited an episode from a September 2022 event where Biden called for Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., who had died just weeks earlier in a car accident. Biden previously released a statement acknowledging her death after it happened and the event he attended similarly honored her memory. Advertisement 4 Erik Wemple wrote a scathing piece calling out the media's lack of self-reflection. Fox News 'Jackie, are you here? Where's Jackie?' Biden said in the viral moment. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the president at the time, insisting Walorski was simply 'top of mind.' 'It's time to turn this exercise on my own byline,' Wemple wrote Monday. 'The 'Where's Jackie' episode was my cue to start hammering mainstream outlets for not pushing on this story. Never happened — that was a failure.' Wemple noted, as Fox News Digital did at the time, that neither CNN nor MSNBC offered any coverage of the 'Where's Jackie' comment. Advertisement 4 Former President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, at the Ronald Reagan Building, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, in Washington. AP 4 Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., is seen before a House Ways and Means Committee markup in Longworth Building on July 12, 2018. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag While acknowledging some in the press, like Axios' Alex Thompson and The Wall Street Journal's Annie Linskey and Siobhan Hughes for their pre-debate reporting that shed light on Biden's cognitive decline, Wemple knocked the media for broadly lacking the vigor to get to the bottom of it sooner. 'White House coverage must involve more than observing the president in action and writing up analysis pieces about his comings and goings,' Wemple wrote. Advertisement 'It needs to include a muckraking component detailing behind-the-scenes strategies, conflicts and debates over all manner of issues, particularly those relating to the president's mental acuity. An adjacent question relates to whether Biden himself was fully abreast of and in charge of day-to-day decisions.' 4 The Washington Post office in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, June 27, 2024. Bloomberg via Getty Images 'And it's on these fronts that major media organizations fell short: Though Biden's declining faculties were clear to all, they never ignited one of those glorious mainstream-media investigative frenzies that colonizes television and radio broadcasts,' he added. Thompson's 'Original Sin' co-author, CNN anchor Jake Tapper, said there should be 'soul-searching' in the legacy media for how Biden's clearly apparent issues were covered. 'Few souls are undergoing a pat-down,' Wemple wrote.
15 minutes ago
In their own words: Trump, Newsom trade insults and barbs over National Guard in Los Angeles
The swiftly evolving situation in the Los Angeles area over protests surrounding immigration enforcement actions has also cued up a public spat between President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California governor who has been one of the Republican president's most vocal Democratic critics. After Trump on Sunday called up 2,000 National Guard troops to respond, Newsom said he would sue the administration, a promise on which the state followed through a day later. Trump cited a legal provision that allows him to mobilize federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States." The president also agreed with one of his top advisers that maybe the governor should be arrested. Here's a look at back-and-forth between Trump and Newsom in their own words: 'You have violent people, and we're not gonna let them get away with it.' — Trump, Sunday, in remarks to reporters in Morristown, New Jersey. ___ Newsom's ire has been elevated over Trump's decision to, without his support, call up the California National Guard for deployment into his state. In a letter Sunday, Newsom called on Trump to rescind the Guard deployment, calling it a 'serious breach of state sovereignty.' The governor, who was in Los Angeles meeting with local law enforcement and other officials, also told protesters they were playing into Trump's plans and would face arrest for violence or property destruction. 'Trump wants chaos and he's instigated violence,' he said. 'Stay peaceful. Stay focused. Don't give him the excuse he's looking for.' In an interview with MSNBC, Newsom said Sunday he had spoken with Trump 'late Friday night,' after the protests had begun, but said deploying the National Guard 'never came up.' "We talked for almost 20 minutes, and he — barely, this issue never came up. I mean, I kept trying to talk about LA, he wanted to talk about all these other issues," Newsom said. 'We had a very decent conversation.' 'He never once brought up the National Guard,' Newsom said of Trump, calling him 'a stone-cold liar.' Saying, 'I did call him the other night,' Trump told reporters Sunday that he told Newsom in that call: ''Look you've got to take care of this. Otherwise I'm sending in the troops.' ... That's what we did.' On Monday, Trump posted on social media that Los Angeles would have been 'completely obliterated' without his intervention and referred to Newsom as 'Newscum,' a pejorative moniker he has used to refer to the governor. 'We are suing Donald Trump. This is a manufactured crisis. He is creating fear and terror to take over a state militia and violate the U.S. constitution.' — Newsom, Monday, X post. ___ As Newsom promised, California officials sued the Trump administration on Monday, with the state's attorney general, Rob Bonta, arguing that the deployment of troops 'trampled' on the state's sovereignty and pushing for a restraining order. The initial deployment of 300 National Guard troops was expected to quickly expand to the full 2,000 that were authorized by Trump. Late Monday, Trump authorized an additional 2,000 National Guard troops. Ahead of that move, Newsom accused the president of inflaming tensions, breaching state sovereignty and wasting resources, while warning protesters not to 'take Trump's bait.' Teasing the suit, Newsom told MSNBC that he saw the deployment as 'an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act.' Asked Monday about the lawsuit, Trump said it was 'interesting' and argued 'that place would be burning down' without the federal government's intervention. 'I'm very happy I got involved," Trump added. "I think Gavin in his own way is very happy I got involved.' 'I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing." — Trump, Monday, in remarks to reporters. ___ Tom Homan, the Trump administration's border czar, previously warned that anyone, including public officials, would be arrested if they obstructed federal immigration enforcement. Newsom's initial response to Homan, during the MSNBC interview and in subsequent posts on his own social media: 'Come and get me, tough guy.' On Monday Trump seemed to agree with his border chief, telling reporters, 'I would do it if I were Tom.' 'I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,' Trump added. "He's done a terrible job. Look — I like Gavin, he's a nice guy, but he's grossly incompetent, everybody knows." Homan later said there was 'no discussion' about actually arresting Newsom, but reiterated that 'no one's above the law.' wrote Monday on X that they represented 'a day I hoped I would never see in America' and said Trump's call for his arrest marked 'an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.'
Newsweek
15 minutes ago
- Newsweek
MAGA Supporters Counter Anti-ICE Protests: 'Go Back to Mexico'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Several Donald Trump supporters in Tampa, Florida, have started counter-protests to anti-ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, demonstrations. Video footage posted on X, formerly Twitter, shows a man holding a red "MAGA country" flag chanting "we want ICE" and telling a woman holding a Mexican flag: "If you love Mexico, go back to Mexico." In another clip, a group of men can be seen holding a Trump-Vance banner, before move for a truck coming through. Hundreds gathered outside Tampa's City Hall to protest on Monday, after a weekend of violent clashes between anti-ICE demonstrators and law enforcement. Police intervened during some heated moments between anti-ICE protesters and counter-protesters but there was no violence, according to Tampa broadcaster FOX13. This is a developing story - more to follow.
