The Keystone State cannot ban 18–20-year-olds from publicly carrying firearms during declared states of emergency, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
In a 2-1 decision, a Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel blocked Pennsylvania from enforcing a trio of state statutes that together prohibit people between the ages of 18 and 20 from legally carrying firearms when a state of emergency is declared. The majority opinion, which reversed a lower court ruling, centered around the age at which the Second Amendment’s text protects Americans.
“The words ‘the people’ in the Second Amendment presumptively encompass all adult Americans, including 18- to-20-year-olds, and we are aware of no founding-era law that supports disarming people in that age group,” Judge Kent A. Jordan
wrote in Lara v. Comm’r Pa. State Police. “Accordingly, we will reverse and remand.”
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