US Court Of Appeal Restricts Sales Of Firearms To People Under 21 Years Of Not Constitutional

Illustration of firearms promo. (Wikimedia Commons/M&R Glasgow)

JAKARTA - The United States Government's ban, which has been in effect for decades against federally licensed firearms sellers to sell pistols to adults under the age of 21, was unconstitutional, the US appeals court ruled on Thursday, citing a recent US Supreme Court decision expanding gun ownership rights.

The decision issued by New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals marks the first time a federal appeals court has stated that the ban violates the right to store and carry weapons listed in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.

The previous appeals court upheld the same ban in 2012. However, it came before the U.S. Supreme Court, which was mostly conservative with a 6-3 vote, handed down an important ruling in 2022 setting new tests to assess modern firearms laws.

In the case of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the Supreme Court stated that modern firearms restrictions should be "consistent with the country's historical traditions in terms of firearms regulation."

The federal ban on sales to people under the age of 21 was first adopted by Congress in 1968 as part of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act.

A group of people between the ages of 18 and 20 along with gun-holding rights groups, the Coalition for the Policy of Firearms and the Second Amendment Foundation, opposed the ban in 2020 and appealed the judge's decision at a lower level in favor of the law.

US Circuit Judge Edith Jones, who wrote for a panel of three judges on Thursday, said the decision was wrong, because the law was "unconstitutional given the historic traditions of our country in terms of firearms regulation."

Previously, the US Department of Justice during the term of office of former Democratic former President Joe Biden had defended the ban.

However, Jones said it was just

providing little evidence showing the right to possession of firearms for adults aged 18 to 20 is also limited to the era of the establishment of the country in the 1700s.

"In the end, the Second Amendment text includes individuals aged 18 to 20 among the "people" whose rights to store and carry protected weapons," wrote Jones, who like other panel members were appointed by Republican president.

Meanwhile, Brandon Combs, president of the Coalition for the Policy of Firearms, in a statement called the decision a victory against "the prohibition of arms based on immoral and unconstitutional age."