Two major gun-rights groups have filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to strike down the state’s restriction on the possession and carry of semi-automatic firearms and handguns by law-abiding adults under 21 years of age.
For a Massachusetts resident to purchase or possess a firearm, they must first acquire one of two licenses: a firearm identification card or a license to carry. Only the identification card is available for adults who are 18-20 years old, however, and even with that license, it only allows residents in this age group to purchase and possess “…rifles and shotguns that are not large capacity or semi-automatic…”
The Firearm Policy Coalition (FPC) and Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) filed the motion for summary judgment on November 20 in the case Escher v. Noble, which challenges the restrictive state law on Second Amendment grounds. Other plaintiffs in the case include Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the National Rifle Association (NRA).
The motion argues that the Second Amendment protects these adults and that the state cannot point to any historical tradition supporting its categorical disarmament scheme.
“Although 1791 is the key year by which to judge the value of historical evidence regarding the Second Amendment’s scope, the difference between 1791 and 1868 is not significant here,” the motion states. “The unanimous practice from the Founding of ensuring that 18-to-20-year-olds could exercise their rights protected by the Second Amendment on equal footing with the rest of the population was still the overwhelming majority practice in the states in 1868.”
Brandon Combs, FPC president, called the law, which limits Second Amendment rights for adults who are free to practice their other rights, an “attack.”
“This case is about ending Massachusetts’ authoritarian, age-based attack on peaceable adults,” Combs said in a press release announcing the filing. “The state’s ban isn’t just unconstitutional—it’s an insult to the very principles this nation was built on. And just like we’ve done in other anti-rights states, we will force Massachusetts to comply with the Constitution, whatever it takes.”
Speaking for his organization, SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut said infringing on young adults’ rights is uniquely a Second Amendment phenomenon.
“In no other context would the American people tolerate limiting the civil rights of adults based solely on their age,” Kraut said in a news release. “Denying adults under 21 years old the ability to possess a handgun—the quintessential firearm of choice for self-defense—is a clear violation of their Second Amendment rights. The ratification of the Bill of Rights takes precisely this sort of policy decision off the table, and Massachusetts lawmakers have no authority to strip away the rights of a discreet subset of the population.”
Alan Gottlieb, SAF founder and executive vice president, pointed out that adults who are 18 years old can serve in the military, marry, start businesses, serve on juries and are tried as adults should they be accused of breaking the law.
“They also possess the full panoply of civil rights enjoyed by ‘the People’—including the right to keep and bear arms,” he said. “Massachusetts lawmakers should be ashamed to have even attempted this discriminatory legal regime, and we’re thrilled for the opportunity to rectify the situation in court.”
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