By Mark Chesnut The Truth About Guns
We’ve covered the battle for the Second Amendment rights of 18-, 19- and 20-year-old Americans extensively for the past few years, with court decisions sometimes being victories and sometimes losses.
The most recent court victory comes out of Florida, where a court has ruled that young adults under age 21 have the same Second Amendment rights as the rest of Sunshine State adults as far as concealed carry is concerned.
Treating young adults as second-class citizens isn’t constitutional
On June 18, a three-judge panel of Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeals unanimously handed down the ruling that 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds cannot be denied the opportunity to carry a concealed firearm for self-defense since they get to enjoy all of the other rights enumerated in the Constitution.
“Eighteen- to 20-year-olds can defend the country without restriction but can only utilize their Second Amendment right to self-defense with severe restrictions,” Judge Spencer D. Levine wrote in the decision. “Restricting 18- to 20-year-olds — members of the same ‘political community’ as other law-abiding adults — from rights to self-defense would make the Second Amendment a ‘second-class’ right.”
Florida AG Uthmeier refused to defend the law in the first place
The ruling came after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office would not defend the law.
“In another win for the unalienable rights of Floridians, the 4th DCA agreed with our position that Florida’s law banning adults under 21 from conceal carrying a firearm is unconstitutional,” Uthmeier wrote in a social media post. “We will not seek further review and will work with the @FDACS to implement the court’s order.”
The court rejected Florida’s “young people are dangerous” excuse
Also in the opinion, Levine dismissed the claim that concerns about firearm misuse among younger adults justified the restriction. Instead, he wrote that Florida failed to identify a historical tradition supporting the law, and that adults ages 18 to 20 could not be treated like categories historically subject to firearm restrictions, such as felons or the mentally ill.
“All those who reach the age of 18 are able, and encouraged, for example, to join the military to defend our country,” he wrote. “Yet those very same law-abiding adults are burdened in their ability to exercise the same Second Amendment rights that other adults have.”
NRA: If you can defend your country, you can defend yourself
Gun-rights groups, including the National Rifle Association, praised the ruling shortly after it was announced.
“Constitutional rights do not begin at 21,” the NRA wrote in a social media post. “If you’re old enough to defend your country, you’re old enough to exercise your right to keep and bear arms.”
The case that started it all
The case stemmed from a 2024 incident in which an 18-year-old Florida man was arrested and charged with carrying a concealed firearm and improper exhibition of a firearm. The man challenged the concealed carry charge, arguing that it was unconstitutional for Florida to require adults to be 21 or older to legally carry.
Constitutional carry for 18-20 year olds in Florida is now reality
Ultimately, since Florida is a Constitutional Carry state, the ruling means that now, lawful adults 18 and over can carry a concealed firearm for self-defense without having to jump through legal hoops or pay a fee to the government to practice that Second Amendment-protected right.
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