11th Circuit Ruling: States Can Act to Prevent Gun Carnage with Age Restrictions on Sales

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The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has upheld a Florida law that bans gun sales to people under 21. The law was passed after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February 2018, in which a 19-year-old youth killed 17 people and injured another 17. The National Rifle Association (NRA) challenged the law, arguing that it violated the Second Amendment. Still, Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum, an former President Barack Obama appointee, ruled against the challenge.

The law prohibits gun sales to those under 21 but does not prevent them from receiving guns through gifting or loaning. Judge Rosenbaum cited news stories of shootings committed by individuals under 21, including an 18-year-old who killed a 14-year-old girl because she would not love him and then turned the gun on himself. Rosenbaum argued that even though 18- to 20-year-olds account for less than 4% of the population, they are responsible for more than 15% of homicide and manslaughter arrests.

The judge also looked at gun violence during the Reconstruction era, which was the time of the adoption of the 14th Amendment that made the Second Amendment applicable to the states. Rosenbaum argued that guns have become more deadly since then, but state governments have never been required to stand idly by and watch the carnage rage. Before the 14th Amendment was passed, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky barred 18-year-olds to 20-year-olds from buying and possessing pistols—with some exceptions. Several more states followed after the passage of the 14th Amendment.

  

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“At least 19 states and the District of Columbia banned the sale and even the giving or loaning of handguns and other deadly weapons to 18- to 20-year-olds by the close of the 19th century,” Rosenbaum said. That history shows that Florida’s law is consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation, Rosenbaum said.

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The NRA had argued that a founding-era law required those older than 18 to join the militia, demonstrating that the age group could buy guns. However, Rosenbaum stated that the NRA “mistakes a legal obligation for a right.”

The ruling came as Florida lawmakers considered lowering the minimum age for buying a gun from 21 to 18. Judge Charles R. Wilson, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote separately to say he would have waited to issue an opinion until the end of the current legislative session in Florida.

Gun control and gun violence have been contentious issues in the United States for years. In recent years, several mass shootings, such as the Parkland shooting, have resulted in calls for stricter gun laws. Gun control proponents argue that stricter laws would reduce gun violence, while opponents argue that gun control measures violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms.