The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Office of Legal Counsel has determined that prohibiting licensed dealers from selling handguns to law-abiding adults ages 18 to 20 is unlawful under the U.S. Constitution.  As he should.

     The office released a nearly 50-page opinion explaining that federal statutes 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1) and (c)(1) do not comply with the Second Amendment based on the Supreme Court’s rulings in cases such as District of Columbia v. Heller, New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen and Wolford v. Lopez  The Office of Legal Counsel argued that “the people” protected by the Second Amendment includes the 18-to-20 age range.  

     “Eighteen-year-olds may vote, serve on juries, be drafted, and face adult criminal penalties, including capital punishment,” said Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser for the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. “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.” 

     “The Office of Legal Counsel found no Founding era history or tradition of precluding legal adults from purchasing firearms to protect public safety,” the DOJ stated in a press release. “To the contrary, at the Founding, militia statutes overwhelmingly required service beginning at 18 and required enrollees to furnish their own arms.”

     Kris Brown, president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence, pushed back against the opinion, arguing that young adults possessing firearms pose a heightened threat to the public.  “While the DOJ legal opinion does not change the law itself, it merely reflects the erroneous views of the Trump administration. The decision not to enforce the law will make it easier for young adults — a community at higher risk for gun violence — to obtain firearms,” she wrote.