The Justice Department released an opinion Friday saying federal laws prohibiting handgun sales to adults younger than 21 violate the Constitution and can no longer be enforced.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which serves as the in-house attorney for the federal bureaucracy, said the Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms to “the people,” and that must include those ages 18 to 20.
Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser said: “The Constitution protects the people’s right to keep and bear arms. The Department of Justice may not constitutionally seek to impose criminal penalties on dealers who sell handguns to law-abiding adults who, in nearly every other relevant respect, are members of the political community.”
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Two sections of federal law bar firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults.
Mr. Gaiser said neither provision can be enforced any longer.
Also Friday, a federal appeals court struck down restrictions on interstate handgun sales. In a 2-1 decision, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Second Amendment right to keep firearms necessarily includes the right to purchase them. The majority said the government has not justified a restriction on direct interstate sales.
That ruling creates a split with the 2nd Circuit, which upheld the ban last year in United States v. Vereen and could pave the way for the issue to reach the Supreme Court.
The Justice Department’s move to expand rights to young adults drew an outcry from gun control advocates who said the decision would put guns in the hands of more dangerous people.
“People ages 18 to 20 are responsible for a disproportionate share of school shootings, public mass shootings and gun homicides overall. There is a reason minimum age laws exist,” said Emma Brown, executive director of Giffords, a gun violence prevention organization.
The Justice Department decision applies to federal prosecutions.
Some states have their own laws prohibiting sales to young adults.
At issue is whether firearms can be subject to a different age standard than the 18-year-old line that generally delineates adulthood.
Some federal courts have upheld the higher age restriction, while others have ruled against it.
Mr. Gaiser said recent Supreme Court rulings have firmly established the personal right to bear arms for self-defense.
One of those, the Heller decision, noted that Americans have considered handguns the “quintessential self-defense weapon.”
A subsequent ruling, the Bruen decision, established that firearms restrictions must align with historical traditions dating back to America’s founding.
Some federal judges have pointed out that those younger than 21 were considered minors at the founding.
Mr. Gaiser noted, however, that 18- to 20-year-olds were historically subject to compulsory militia service. That meant they were not only allowed to bear arms but also required to serve — and to bring their own guns.
Besides, he said, the 26th Amendment, which prohibits denying the vote to citizens 18 and older, makes clear that the country now accepts those ages 18 to 20 as full adults entitled to constitutional rights.
He said comparisons to the legal drinking age fail because alcohol involves no constitutional right.
Mr. Gaiser said his opinion does not alter prohibitions on sales to or possession by those younger than 18, even though they might be considered part of “the people” under the Second Amendment.
He said those ages 18 to 20 can still face enhanced background checks.
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