Judge Strikes Down Federal Ban on Handgun Sales for 18 to 20-Year-Olds

Breitbart ^ | December 1, 2023 | AWR Hawkins

[Reno89519]

On Friday, Judge Thomas S. Kleeh issued a decision striking down the federal prohibition against 18 to 20-year-olds purchasing handguns.

The plaintiffs in the case are Steven Robert Brown, Benjamin Weekley, the Second Amendment Foundation, and the West Virginia Citizens Defense League.

Judge Kleeh, a Donald Trump appointee, is Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.

Kleeh put the case in context:

This case requires the Court to assess the protected right of the people under the Second Amendment to the Constitution to keep and bear arms. U.S. Const. amend. II. Plaintiffs Robert Brown (“Brown”) and Benjamin Weekley (“Weekley”), individuals, are “law abiding, responsible adult citizens who wish to purchase handguns.”…Brown and Weekley are citizens of West Virginia and the United States of America and are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one. Brown and Weekley, as law-abiding, responsible adult citizens, would purchase handguns and handgun ammunition from Federal Firearms Licensees (“FFLs”) but for the right proscribed by 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(b)(1) and (c)(1).

He went on to explain that Brown and Weekley had each tried to buy a handgun but were “refused the sales because they were under twenty-one years of age.”

...

He sided with the plaintiffs and quoted extensively from Bruen (2022) to show the manner at which he arrived at his decision.

...

In siding with the plaintiffs, Kleeh enjoined the ATF, Garland, and Dettelbach from enforcing a ban on handgun purchases against 18 to 20-year-olds who are “otherwise qualified” to make such purchases.

The case is Brown v. ATF, No. 1:22-cv-00080 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.

[Reno89519]

Link to Brown v ATF: https://saf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/40.-brown-v-atf-opinion.pdf

Another win for the Constitution.

[Gene Eric]

Old enough to fight and die for the Country, old enough to be treated like an adult.

[Reno89519]

Exactly. And that goes for all laws that are not constitutionally mandated for age. I remember turning 18 in Alaska, being able to drink, then joined the Navy at 19 and after boot camp in San Diego I couldn’t drink because the 21 year old minimum age law was being implemented and of course California was apparently an early adopter.

[Az Joe]

Would go up to the 4th circuit if Garland appeals.

4th Circuit

% of circuit judges nominated

60%
DEM Presidents

40%
REP Presidents

[Az Joe]

https://ballsandstrikes.org/circuit-status/

Political leanings of each circuit.

[Gene Eric]

definitely mixed messages regarding one’s willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice to the Country.

+1

[unclebankster]

Exactly. And that goes for all laws that are not constitutionally mandated for age. I remember turning 18 in Alaska, being able to drink, then joined the Navy at 19 and after boot camp in San Diego I couldn’t drink because the 21 year old minimum age law was being implemented and of course California was apparently an early adopter.

************

It was a bunch of nanny state BS.

“Go die for country” but you can’t have a beer?

Doesn’t seem right from my civilian perspective.

[MortMan]

In NYS, I was legalized three times: 18 (4 months before they changed the age to 19), 19 (4 months before it shifted to 21), and then 21.

Completely ridiculous.

[Ex-Con777]

Lemme guess. Born Sept 1959?

I experienced the same thing in Florida. I’m glad I wasn’t 3 months younger.

EC

[hanamizu]

“...California was apparently an early adopter.”

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Twenty-one was the legal age to drink and to vote in California when I was growing up. Some states had lower ages, but 21 was the standard. When they lowered the voting age to 18 many states lowered the drinking age as well. Don’t know if California did. Then Congress strong-armed the states to raise the drinking age to 21, kind of like they did for the 55 mph speed limit. Do it or we withhold highway money.

[Hot Tabasco]

Does this apply to West Virginia only or is it nation wide?

[ealgeone]

I’d be in favor of moving the voting age up to 25. It’s by that time your brain development has finished.

[Hot Tabasco]

Same here. I had been overseas a year and a half and when I came home on my first 30 day leave, I was only 20 and Michigan's drinking age was 21. Fortunately, a friend took me to a bar owned by a vet who served me.

5 months later when I was discharged and I was then 21, they lowered the age to 18.

They raised it to 21 again back in 1978.

[hanamizu]

I’d be in favor of moving the voting age up to 25.

---

I don’t disagree, but that’s politically impossible because it would not only require an amendment repealing the twenty-sixth, but also require an amendment imposing a minimum voting age. Right now if California wishes to extend the franchise to 14-year olds, there is nothing to stop them.

[House Atreides]

“… Right now if California wishes to extend the franchise to 14-year olds, there is nothing to stop them.”
*********************************************

Hey! Don’t give them ideas. ;-)

[BigJimSportCamper]

Yeah, now about alcohol?

[zeugma]

Thanks much for a direct link to the decision itself!

This is how you do it when posting about a court case folks!

[Graybeard58]

My first vote in a presidential election was in 1968 at age 23 and I was a 4 year military veteran.

A few things have changed, for the better.

[Graybeard58]

My first vote in a presidential election was in 1968 at age 23 and I was a 4 year military veteran.

A few things have changed, for the better.