WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice announced that the Office of Legal Counsel concluded a federal law prohibiting the sale of handguns to 18 to 20 year olds is unenforceable.
A statute enacted as part of the Gun Control Act of 1968 barred federally licensed dealers from selling handguns and ammunition to adults under the age of 21.
The Department of Justice release stated that the Office of Legal Counsel “determined that 18 to 20-year-olds are among ‘the people’ protected by the Second Amendment.”
The Office of Legal Counsel’s new opinion explains that federal statutes 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1) and (c)(1) are inconsistent with the Second Amendment as interpreted by the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller, New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, and subsequent decisions including Wolford v. Lopez. These statutes generally prohibit federally licensed dealers from selling handguns or handgun ammunition to individuals under 21.
The DOJ further stated that “[b]ecause the restrictions burden the ability of members of ‘the people’ to acquire commonly used arms, they fall within the Amendment’s plain text and are presumptively unconstitutional.”
