The Supreme Court announced on its final day of the term that it won’t be hearing disputes related to age limits for buying guns.
In an order, the high court dismissed five cases related to the prohibition on individuals under 21 from carrying a firearm.
According to court filings, the federal government and 32 states set 21 as the minimum age for handling certain firearms.
After the high court issued its decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen in 2022, when the court said any gun control law had to be consistent with the nation’s founding and understanding of gun rights at the time, a wave of Second Amendment litigation has swept through the courts.
Since that decision, five courts of appeals have had to grapple with a challenge to whether the bar on 18- to 21-year-olds carrying firearms runs afoul of the Second Amendment.
The 10th and 11th Circuit have upheld those restrictions on people under 21 from buying firearms, but the 3rd, 8th and 5th Circuit Courts of Appeals have concluded differently.
These five cases had asked the justices to weigh the issue and settle the split, but they declined to do so at this time.
It would have taken four justices to vote in favor of hearing the appeals.
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