The National Rifle Association (NRA) has filed a petition with the US Supreme Court seeking to overturn a Florida law that raised the minimum age to purchase rifles and long guns from 18 to 21. The law was enacted in 2018 following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
The NRA initially challenged the law after it was passed, arguing it violates the Second Amendment. In March, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, stating the restriction is "consistent with our historical tradition of firearm regulation."
On Friday, the NRA filed a “petition for writ of certiorari,” pointing to a January ruling from the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which found a federal ban on handgun sales to adults under 21 to be unconstitutional. The petition said that, "This split between the circuits over so fundamental a question is intolerable, and it urgently calls for this (Supreme) Court's resolution.”
The Supreme Court has recently set a precedent that gun regulation must coincide with the historical tradition of firearm regulation in the US. Chief Judge William Pryor, writing for the 11th Circuit, said the Florida law aligns with such tradition.
"From this history emerges a straightforward conclusion: the Florida law is consistent with our regulatory tradition in why and how it burdens the right of minors to keep and bear arms," he wrote. "Because minors have yet to reach the age of reason, the Florida law prohibits them from purchasing firearms, yet it allows them to receive firearms from their parents or another responsible adult."
The NRA disagreed with the court’s reasoning, pointing out that 18-to 20-year-olds in the state of Florida are adults, not minors, and are entitled to full constitutional protections.
"The founding-era rule, even by the en banc (full court) majority's lights, only limited the right to keep and bear arms of legal minors - persons who were not treated as adults for most other purposes and who remained within the care, custody and protection of their parents. But Florida's law strips the right to acquire firearms from legal adults - 18-to-20-year-olds who enjoy the practical and legal benefits of adulthood, who are not within the custody or protection of their parents, and who often have families of their own," the NRA lawyers wrote.
The petition further argued, "A fundamental incident of adulthood in America is the enjoyment of constitutional rights, including the right to defend yourself, your family, and your home with common firearms. Stripping away an 18-year-old adult's Second Amendment rights is thus fundamentally irreconcilable 'with the principles that underpin the nation's regulatory tradition,' ... and the court should grant the writ and reverse.”
The NRA also cited “strong historical evidence” that adults aged 18 to 20 were understood at the time of the nation’s founding to be protected under the Second Amendment.
"In states across the country, 18-to-20-year-olds are considered legal adults for virtually all purposes: they may make contracts, vote, serve on juries, petition the government, freely express their views, and serve in (or be conscripted into) the armed services," the petition stated.
While federal law restricts handgun purchases to those over 21, there has not been a similar federal restriction on long guns. Florida’s law expanded those limits following the Parkland shooting, which left 17 dead. Lawmakers said the age increase was intended to "address the crisis of violence, including but not limited to, gun violence on school campuses,” according to CBS News.
