By Mark Chesnut The Truth About Guns
Over the past year, it seemed that young gun owners aged 18 to 20 were building some momentum in getting their Second Amendment rights recognized. In April, a Pennsylvania judge ruled that 18- to 20-year-old residents could apply for concealed carry permits, and in July, the 8th Circuit Court ruled that Minnesota’s carry ban on young adults under 21 was unconstitutional.
Now, however, the tide seems to be turning. On Tuesday, the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the case Rocky Mountain Gun Owners v. Polis that Colorado’s law limiting gun sales to people 21 or over could take effect. The law had been on hold since last year when a federal district judge blocked enforcement of the law the day it was set to take effect.
Using what can only be described as faulty logic, the three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit based the ruling on the fact that other states have similar laws, the constitution be damned. It’s like a teenager telling his parents he can smoke pot, despite it being illegal, because all of his friends are doing it.
Noting that 20 other states set the gun purchase age at 21, Judge Richard Federico wrote in the ruling: “It seems evident that the necessity of some minimum age requirement is widely accepted—after all, no one is reasonably arguing that 8-year-olds should be allowed to purchase guns.”
In the majority opinion, Federico cites “compelling scientific evidence” presented by the state that the brain continues to mature until age 21—a factor that should not even be considered. Federico further wrote that plaintiff Adrian Pineda failed to prove that the law violated the Second Amendment.
“Pineda fails to prove that SB 23-169 implicates his right to ‘keep and bear’ arms…,” Federico wrote. “This is because SB 23-169 is presumptively lawful as a law that imposes conditions or qualifications upon the sale and purchase of arms and thus does not fall within the protections of the plain text of the Second Amendment. Laws or regulations imposing conditions or qualifications—such as a minimum purchase age of 21—on the commercial sale or purchase of arms, when not employed for abusive ends, remain outside the scope of the Amendment’s protections under the third prong of Bruen step one.”
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, one of the plaintiffs in the case, plans to appeal the decision, which they say ignored many of the guidelines set down in the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
“The judges refused to properly apply Bruen‘s text, history, and tradition standard, and instead recharacterized this law into a mere commercial regulation instead of a constitutional right infringement,” the group posted on X, formerly Twitter. “This is a very temporary setback, and we look forward to fighting back against this outrageous ruling.”
Find the original article in its entirety on The Truth About Guns.
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Just like drinking age. 18 was old enough for us to be drafted and killed in combat, but not old enough to allow us to drink in many states. This needs to be appealed to Supremes and reversed.
I’ll stick with the old adage. You can enlist in the military and die for your country, but can’t buy a gun in your own country. Absolutely stupid.
So 18-20 yr olds can go to war and fight for their country, but their brains are not mature enough to own a gun, just mature enough to use one in a major war or protecting the country in the National guard. Wow, make so much sense huh…
As a lifelong Republican (Conservative) and a fierce supporter of the Second Amendment, I am apt to agree with this law. When I was eighteen years old, I didn’t have the maturity to own/possess a gun. Colorado in my opinion is nothing more than a Liberal State of Illiterates, but do I agree with this bill.
So in your mind its fine for an 18 year old to carry a machine gun, fully automatic assault rifle, grenade launcher, rocket launcher, hand grenades, explosive charges, knives and bayonets, being trained to kill with all these and even their bare hands and to die in the service of his nation for your freedoms, liberties and safety, but can’t be trusted to own his own firearm to defend himself and his family? I’m going to need that logic explained to me as a man that joined the Army at 17 years of age and have owned firearms since I was 12.
Democraps again.
I am 70 years old. I have NO PROBLEM about AGE MINNIUM !!!! It all comes down too when JUDGES or SOCIETY THINKS YOU are a ADULT !!!! The problems is , And a BIG ONE !! If at 18 YEARS of AGE I am Adult or OLD enough too be Drafted if needed and KILED in action or be called non American.. Where does AGE LIMMIT on Alcohol, Smoking, Hunting or carrying a Hand Gun, EVEN come into QUESTION. ????? The only conclusion at this point ? you are old enough at 18 years to be killed, but not enough to Protect or have CONTUTIONAL RIGHTS YET ??????????? Even Bigger problem for me. Body wise, worn out, mind wise still a Kid at Heart. Am I even old enough YET ??? By the way , OUR USA History had young kid fighting in WAR.
Any law that states an age limit is not going to stop a drug-induced, thoughts of suicide from a legal drug is going to stop someone from carrying out what their thoughts are prompting them to do.
…And how do you account for all those 18, 19 and 20 year olds that are serving our nation? You know, the ones carrying actual machine-guns, grenade launchers, rocket launchers in defense of this nation? I guess you will have adults that do not get to exercise their right to self defense of themselves and their families. Seem to me there are a lot of them right there on Fort Carson with the 4th Infantry Division. Nice to know Colorado doesn’t care about their soldiers and other service members. It also seems to me that the United States Supreme Court already ruled that the right to bear arms is for all adults, not just the ones that are 21 and older. Law of Supremacy Colorado. You’re messing up and at just the wrong time. The U.S. majority of people just voted for a return to constitutionality instead of liberal ideologies and values.