Can Americans under 21 pack heat in public? Supreme Court pulls trigger on ruling

The Supreme Court decided to leave a Pennsylvania law in place banning the carry of firearms in public for people under 21, according to court orders released Tuesday.

The decision sends the case back down to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to be reconsidered, with the Supreme Court declining to hear arguments, according to the court orders. The court pushed back against the Third Circuit’s initial judgement in June that the law violated the Second Amendment by arbitrarily excluding some adults from carrying just for being under 21 and having no historical precedent, according to the decision handed out by Third Circuit Judge Kent Jordan.

“The Commissioner contends that the Appellants are not among ‘the people’ to whom the Second Amendment applies, and that the Nation’s history and tradition of firearm regulation support the statutory status quo. We disagree,” Jordan wrote in the decision. “The words ‘the people’ in the Second Amendment presumptively encompass all adult Americans, including 18-to-20-year-olds, and we are aware of no founding-era law that supports disarming people in that age group.”

The Uniform Firearms Act of 1995 prohibited the public carry of firearms for adults under 21 during states of emergency in the state, which included the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Third Circuit decision.

FPC LEGAL UPDATE: The Supreme Court has GVR’d our win against Pennsylvania’s age-based gun ban in light of Rahimi, which means it will be sent back to the Third Circuit to be re-heard for another decision: https://t.co/zuDLq1M73W pic.twitter.com/I8b4wFxbqy

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) October 15, 2024

The plaintiffs include three individuals as well as two gun rights groups, the Second Amendment Foundation (2AF) and the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), according to court documents. The defendant is the Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris.

“We will continue to litigate this case and work to secure the right to keep and bear arms for all peaceable adults throughout the United States,” the FPC told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“As was noted in our brief to the Supreme Court, we believe that vacature of the Third Circuit’s opinion was unnecessary given Rahimi would not make a difference in the outcome. Regardless, the Supreme Court did [grant, vacate, and remand] the case,” 2AF Executive Director Adam Kraut told the DCNF. “We will continue to aggressively litigate this matter before the Third Circuit which already found that 18-20-year-olds are part of ‘the People’ and that this nation’s history required these adults to be armed along with a corresponding absence of any restrictions. SAF will continue to do the necessary work required to restore the right to keep and bear arms for these 18-20-year-olds.”

The Pennsylvania State Police did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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