Hirschfeld v. ATF (4th Circuit): Fourth Circuit strikes down federal law banning handgun sales to young adults, says it will "refuse to relegate either the Second Amendment or 18- to 20-year-olds to a second-class status."
Plaintiffs seek an injunction and a declaratory judgment that several federal laws
and regulations that prevent federally licensed gun dealers from selling handguns to any
18-, 19-, or 20-year-old violate the Second Amendment. We first find that 18-year-olds
possess Second Amendment rights. They enjoy almost every other constitutional right,
and they were required at the time of the Founding to serve in the militia and furnish their
own weapons. We then ask, as our precedent requires, whether the government has met
its burden to justify its infringement of those rights under the appropriate level of scrutiny.
To justify this restriction, Congress used disproportionate crime rates to craft overinclusive
laws that restrict the rights of overwhelmingly law-abiding citizens. And in doing
so, Congress focused on purchases from licensed dealers without establishing those dealers
as the source of the guns 18- to 20-year-olds use to commit crimes. So we hold that the
challenged federal laws and regulations are unconstitutional under the Second
Amendment. Despite the weighty interest in reducing crime and violence, we refuse to
relegate either the Second Amendment or 18- to 20-year-olds to a second-class status.
"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. . . Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them."
- Thomas Paine
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem."
"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. . . Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them."
- Thomas Paine
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem."
“Our nation’s most cherished constitutional rights vest no later than 18.” That’s a fact and a finding that’s awfully inconvenient for the moral superiors who make up the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex. They’re highly invested in the prospect that people who are old enough to vote and serve in the military can’t possibly be trusted with the awesome responsibility that is handgun ownership.
Sadly for them, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling today finding that denying full Second Amendment rights to Americans aged 18 to 20 years old is patently unconstitutional.
As Judge Julius Richardson wrote for the three-judge panel . . .
When do constitutional rights vest? At 18 or 21? 16 or 25? Why not 13 or 33? In the law, a line must sometimes be drawn. But there must be a reason why constitutional rights cannot be enjoyed until a certain age. Our nation’s most cherished constitutional rights vest no later than 18. And the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms is no different.
Plaintiffs seek an injunction and a declaratory judgment that several federal laws and regulations that prevent federally licensed gun dealers from selling handguns to any 18-, 19-, or 20-year-old violate the Second Amendment. We first find that 18-year-olds possess Second Amendment rights. They enjoy almost every other constitutional right, and they were required at the time of the Founding to serve in the militia and furnish their own weapons. We then ask, as our precedent requires, whether the government has met its burden to justify its infringement of those rights under the appropriate level of scrutiny. To justify this restriction, Congress used disproportionate crime rates to craft overinclusive laws that restrict the rights of overwhelmingly law-abiding citizens. And in doing so, Congress focused on purchases from licensed dealers without establishing those dealers as the source of the guns 18- to 20-year-olds use to commit crimes. So we hold that the challenged federal laws and regulations are unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. Despite the weighty interest in reducing crime and violence, we refuse to relegate either the Second Amendment or 18- to 20-year-olds to a second-class status. (emphasis added).
“It’s not that we don’t have enough scoundrels to curse; it’s that we don’t have enough good men to curse them.”–G.K. Chesterton-Illustrated London News, 3-14-1908
Republicans.Hate.You. See2020.
"Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams to Mass Militia 10-11-1798
Nah. They will never cease in their efforts to ban individual possession of firearms. There is no compromising with someone who would see you dead.
JimE wrote:Hopefully, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Learn how Project Appleseed is supporting freedom through Marksmanship and Heritage clinics.
Samuel Adams wrote:If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.
Striking down evil with the mighty sword of teamwork and the hammer of not bickering! Carpe Noctem- we get more done after 2 am than most people do all day.