By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-18 21:33:34 | Updated at 2026-09-18 23:57:32
2 hours ago
A pistol in Redding, Calif., in a file image. Frederic J. Brown/AFP Via Getty Images
A ban in federal law that bars dealers from selling handguns to adults aged 18 to 20 is unconstitutional, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Sept. 18.
The law makes it illegal for dealers to sell handguns and ammunition for handguns to people the dealers know or believe are under 21 years of age. It also allows sales of handguns to people who don’t appear in person at a dealer’s business only if the person swears that they are at least 21.
DOJ lawyers reviewed the law and Supreme Court rulings that outline the application of the Constitution’s Second Amendment, which states in part that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”
Because 18- to 21-year-olds are members of “the people” to whom the Second Amendment applies, the government has to show the restrictions on handgun sales are consistent with the nation’s tradition of firearm regulation, which it cannot do,” the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel said in a memorandum opinion on the conclusions of that review that the department made public on Friday.
The Supreme Court has ruled that if the Second Amendment covers conduct, then the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct and the government can only restrict it if officials demonstrate the restriction is “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
The new legal opinion means the law “may not be enforced to impose criminal penalties on dealers who sell handguns to a class of law-abiding adults who, in nearly every other relevant respect, are members of the political community,” DOJ lawyers said in the memo.
“Eighteen-year-olds may vote, serve on juries, be drafted, and face adult criminal penalties, including capital punishment,” Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser said in a statement. “The Constitution protects the people’s right to keep and bear arms. The Department of Justice may not constitutionally seek to impose criminal penalties on dealers who sell handguns to law-abiding adults who, in nearly every other relevant respect, are members of the political community.”
The change comes after some federal appeals courts found the law in question unconstitutional. Others, though, have said that restrictions on young adults do not violate the Constitution.
Emma Brown, executive director of GIFFORDS, a group that favors gun restrictions, said in a statement that the opinion “is yet another illegal and dangerous action by the Trump administration.”
