In what could only be described as very interesting timing, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on March 14 upheld Florida’s law banning those under 21 years of age from buying firearms.
The ruling came at the same time that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers in the Sunshine State are pushing legislation to get rid of the law and restore the Second Amendment rights of 18-, 19- and 20-year-old Floridians to purchase a gun.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has been seeking to have the law overturned since the Florida Legislature passed it in 2018 in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook mass murder. The ruling by the full 7th Circuit upheld an earlier ruling by a three-judge panel of the court in the case NRA v. Bondi.
In its ruling, the court determined that the restriction met the historical precedent standard for viable gun restrictions the U.S. Supreme Court handed down in the 2022 Bruen ruling.
“The Florida law that prohibits minors from purchasing firearms does not violate the Second and Fourteenth Amendments because it is consistent with our historical tradition of firearm regulation,” Chief Judge William Prior wrote in the ruling. “From the Founding to the late-nineteenth century, our law limited the purchase of firearms by minors in different ways. The Florida law also limits the purchase of firearms by minors. And it does so for the same reason: to stop immature and impulsive individuals, like Nikolas Cruz, from harming themselves and others with deadly weapons. Those similarities are sufficient to confirm the constitutionality of the Florida law.”
In a dissenting opinion joined by three other judges, Judge Andrew Basher argued that the law did not meet the historical precedent criteria as set for in Bruen.
“There were no age-based limitations on the right to keep and bear arms either before, during, or immediately after the adoption of the Bill of Rights,” Judge Brasher wrote. “This is where the majority opinion loses its bearings. Simply put, there is nothing in our nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation that resembles Florida’s complete prohibition on an adult’s ability to purchase a firearm based only on that adult’s age. Nothing in the founding-era legal landscape is analogous to the challenged law. To the extent the history says anything about age and firearms, it says that the states and federal government expected all men over the age of 18 to be armed.”
Because of a split among circuit courts on the constitutionality of restrictions on young adults under 21, the NRA is likely to appeal the ruling. Interestingly, after the ruling, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who just took office last month, said he would not defend the law further.
“Men and women old enough to fight and die for our country should be able to purchase firearms to defend themselves and their families,” Uthmeier posted on social media.
DeSantis proposed getting rid of the law during his State of the State speech on March 4.
“The free state of Florida has not exactly led the way on protecting Second Amendment rights… We need to be a strong Second Amendment state,” DeSantis said.
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