A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that prohibitions on selling handguns to Americans under 21 violates the Second Amendment, the latest legal victory for gun …
A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that prohibitions on selling handguns to Americans under 21 violates the Second Amendment, the latest legal victory for gun rights advocates in federal court. At issue is a gun control law signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 that banned the sale of handguns to people under 21 years old but permitted the sale of shotguns and rifles to those same people. A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va., said Tuesday that the law was an arbitrary restriction that relegated 18- to 20-year-olds to a second-class status under the Second Amendment. The decision is likely to be appealed and may eventually reach the Supreme Court. « When do constitutional rights vest? At 18 or 21? 16 or 25? Why not 13 or 33? » wrote Judge Julius Richardson, nominated to the court by President Donald Trump in 2018.
