By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit in Pennsylvania, challenging that state’s prohibition against allowing young adults, ages 18-20 from acquiring a license to carry a firearm (LTCF) for personal protection. The case is known as Brown v. Paris.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. It comes on the heels of a ruling from the Western District of Pennsylvania back in April that allowed young adults in that age group to apply for concealed carry licenses in the state, while enjoining the state from arresting any law-abiding citizens in that age group for openly carrying firearms during a state of emergency. That case is known as Lara v. Evanchick.
In the new case, SAF is joined by three young adults, all who are SAF members. They are Taylor Brown, Shawn Palmer and Max Ness. They are represented by attorneys Joshua Prince at the Civil Rights Defense Firm in Bechtelsville, PA and Adam Kraut at the Second Amendment Foundation.
Named as the sole defendant in the case is Col. Christopher Paris, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, in his official capacity.
“Our individual plaintiffs have no criminal backgrounds and would like to procure a LTCF,” said Kraut, who also serves as SAF’s executive director. “However, the state law precludes them from carrying firearms, whether openly or concealed, in public for self-defense. Yet, a look back at history reveals young adults between 18 and 20 were fully protected by the Second Amendment at the time of its ratification. Indeed, at the time of the founding, young adults in this age group were actually required to keep and bear arms.”
In the Evanchick case, SAF is joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition and three private citizens, including Madison M. Lara, for whom the case is named. They are represented by attorneys Joshua Prince of the Civil Rights Defense Group, David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and John D. Ohlendorf at Cooper & Kirk, Washington, D.C.
As the new legal action was filed Thursday, SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb noted, “As we explain in our lawsuit, SAF has members and supporters all over the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and we are bringing this action on their behalf. Our young adult members would lawfully carry and legally transport firearms for personal protection and the protection of their loved ones, and others, but for the defendant’s enforcement of the laws we are challenging.”
The lawsuit asks for a declaratory judgment, a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, followed by a permanent injunction.
In the earlier case, U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman, a Donald Trump appointee, issued the ruling in which he wrote that the Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police “is hereby enjoined from arresting law-abiding persons 18 to 20 years old who openly carry firearms during a state of emergency declared by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Judge Stickman further enjoined the commissioner and his subordinates from preventing “any individual between the ages of 18 and 20 years old, who are not disqualified from exercising their Second Amendment rights from carrying loaded, operable firearms, including handguns, on their person, in public and in their vehicles, for all lawful purposes including self-defense.”
