The DOJ used an X post Friday to announce it has concluded that the federal ban on handgun sales to 18- through 20-year-olds is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced.
The announcement is the result of findings by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel.
According to a press release from the DOJ:
The Office of Legal Counsel determined that 18 to 20-year-olds are among “the people” protected by the Second Amendment. “Eighteen-year-olds may vote, serve on juries, be drafted, and face adult criminal penalties, including capital punishment,” said Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser for the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. “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 Office of Legal Counsel concludes that…[statutes that generally prohibit federally licensed dealers from selling handguns or handgun ammunition to individuals under 21] 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.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
