Supreme Court May Consider the Age-Old Second Amendment Question

How old must one be for the Second Amendment to apply? The legal answer to that question depends on where you live – but that could all change soon. The US Supreme Court is set to consider four petitions on Friday, November 14, concerning the issue of gun rights for young adults.

The Age of Arms

Out of the Fourth Circuit comes West Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. At issue in this case is whether a federal law that bans licensed sales of handguns and handgun ammunition to anyone under the age of 21 violates the Second Amendment rights of 18- to 20-year-olds who otherwise can own firearms, in general. The 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen requires a “plain text” reading of the Second Amendment, consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulations.

According to the plaintiff’s petition, the majority in the Fourth Circuit didn’t dispute either point. Indeed, as explained in the filing, “the only eighteenth-century laws cited by anyone below that directly relate to the use of firearms by this age group – the militia laws throughout the Nation that require ‘18- to 20-year-olds’ to serve in the militia and ‘to show up [for militia service] with a musket, firelock or rifle’ – in fact ‘provide [ ] strong evidence that the Second Amendment protected 18- to 20-year-olds.’” McCoy v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and Paris v. Second Amendment Foundation both address the same question, while National Rifle Association v. Glass challenges Florida’s law requiring a minimum purchase age of 21 for any firearm unless the buyer is in law enforcement or the military.

Beyond the Second Amendment – What Is an Adult?

If the Court agrees to take up one or all of these cases, it could mean a final answer on the issue at hand: At what age does the Second Amendment apply? Of course, there’s another question that goes right along with it: When does a child become an adult? The consensus in America seems to be that there are just some things you can’t do until adulthood – but the age is inconsistent and has become something of a moving target depending on both the issue at hand and the political viewpoint of the person being asked. For the progressive left, it seems the age to buy a firearm should be higher and the age to vote lower: 21 for the former and 16 for the latter. Considering 18- to 20-year-olds, two questions must be asked to arrive at a moral and logical – if not constitutional – answer. First, if they’re legally and socially old enough to buy a house, get married, and have children, should people in that age range not be allowed to go adequately armed to defend themselves and their families? Second, if people in this age range are not, for some reason, competent enough to own a firearm, what makes them competent enough to be responsible for the lives of their children, who are, at least for a while, 100% dependent upon them for survival? Why are they considered mature enough to vote – a task that regularly affects the entire populace? Why should they be allowed to enlist and be handed a weapon and trained to kill with it in war – or, for that matter, to be sent off to war to kill or be killed? What makes an 18- to 20-year-old less capable and competent as a gun owner than a 21-year-old, and why doesn’t that apply across the board for any potentially dangerous adult rights, responsibilities, or liabilities?  

Dig Deeper Into the Themes Discussed in This Article!

 

Liberty Vault: The Constitution of the United States

Liberty Vault: New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen