By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The gun prohibition lobby is raising alarms after a federal judge in Virginia struck down a ban on handgun sales to young adults ages 18-20 as unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
The 71-page ruling was handed down by U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne, a George H.W. Bush appointee.
Plaintiffs in this case are John Corey Fraser, Joshua Clay McCoy, Tyler Dalton McGrath and Ian Fletcher Shackley, all within the prohibited age range, and all who wish to buy handguns. The action was originally filed in 2022 against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Their attorney, Elliott Harding, predicted the government will appeal this ruling, according to News Nation.
Janet Carter, senior director of issues and appeals for Everytown Law, asserted the ruling “will put lives at risk,” according to Fox News. She said guns “are the leading cause of death for U.S. kids” and she pointed to research showing that 18-20-year-olds “commit gun homicides at triple the rate of adults 21 years and older
“It must be reversed,” Carter stated.
The Transcontinental Times also quoted an Everytown spokesperson, who asserted, “It’s the latest evidence of the gun lobby’s bigger strategy to see how far radical justices will let them push the Bruen decision.”
According to WTVR News, if the ruling is not overturned, it “would allow dealers to sell handguns to 18- to 20-year-olds.”
In his ruling, Judge Payne observed, “If the Court were to exclude 18-to-20-year-olds from the Second Amendment’s protection, it would impose limitations on the Second Amendment that do not exist with other constitutional guarantees. It is firmly established that the rights enshrined in the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments vest before the age of 21.”
Elsewhere in his decision, the judge writes, “It is beyond question that the depravation of a right conferred by the Constitution is an injury in fact. So, if, as they allege, the Plaintiffs have a right under the Second Amendment to buy handguns, and if the challenged laws and regulations infringe that right, they are injured.”
Later, Judge Payne notes, “(T)he court finds that the right to purchase a gun falls within the Second Amendment’s plain text.”
As noted by NBC News, Payne further states, “Because the statutes and regulations in question are not consistent with our Nation’s history and tradition, they, therefore, cannot stand.”
The judge relies heavily on new guidelines set down by the U.S. Supreme Court in last June’s Bruen ruling, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas. The 6-3 high court ruling has already had a significant impact on court decisions related to gun control laws.
Published reports say there was no immediate reaction from the ATF or the Biden administration.
