Federal judge strikes down Merrick Garland's ban on handgun sales to 18- to 20-year-olds, deems it unconstitutional

A ban on sales of handguns to 18- to 20-year-olds was denied by a federal judge, who deemed the ban "facially unconstitutional" and inconsistent with traditional regulations.

Judge Thomas Kleeh, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, gave a detailed but overall simple rejection of the ban in a 40-page decision.

The lawsuit was brought forth by the Second Amendment Foundation and the West Virginia Citizens Defense League. Defendants in the case were the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with Attorney General Merrick Garland.

According to SCNR, Judge Kleeh relied heavily on the 2022 ruling in the New York State Rifle & Pistol Assoc., Inc. v Bruen case. That case overturned a New York gun control law that required gun owners seeking a concealed carry license for handguns to demonstrate a "proper cause" to do so.

Kleeh explained that the defendants did not present any historical evidence of weapons bans based on age in the country's history.

"Defendants generally miss the point and Plaintiffs’ injury is clear. Plaintiffs do not dispute that 18-to-20-year-olds who are law-abiding adults and not otherwise banned from firearm possession are not prohibited from possessing handguns," he noted. "Defendants have not presented any evidence of age-based restrictions on the purchase or sale of firearms from before or at the founding or during the early republic. Defendants have likewise failed to offer evidence of similar regulation between then and 1791 or in a relevant timeframe thereafter. For that reason alone, defendants have failed to meet the burden imposed by Bruen."

A "means-end scrutiny" was also used to justify the gun control law, but Kleeh noted that the state cannot supersede an individual's constitutional right simply because it believes public safety is more important. Means-end scrutiny typically means that a federal court seeks to establish whether or not a proposed government protection justifies the methods used to implement that protection.

"To justify its regulation, the government may not simply posit that the regulation promotes an important interest. Rather, the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation," the Bruen case stated.

Perhaps the simplest part of the ruling was the statement that the age group in question (18- to 20-year-olds) should be afforded the same Second Amendment rights as other adults. The ruling concluded that "18-to-20-year-old law abiding citizens are part of 'the people' whom the Second Amendment protects."

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