In the wake of the Parkland shooting, Florida did some pretty dumb stuff. One of those was to restrict long gun sales to those over 21. As it stands, handgun sales are already banned for those under 21 under federal law, which means they can't lawfully buy any firearm.
That's a violation of the Second Amendment by any legitimate metric you wish to use.
Florida has defended the law from challenge, with current US Attorney General Pam Bondi being part of that effort. So far, Florida has done pretty well, winning the last round of legal pugilism.
Now, the NRA wants to take their challenge of the measure a step further, and they've got a very good reason to do so:
The National Rifle Association (NRA) on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its challenge to Florida’s ban on firearm purchases by adults under 21. It’s the latest move by the gun-rights group in its four-year-battle to override the 2018 Florida law that bans 18-to-20-year-olds from purchasing long guns.
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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said after that ruling that his office would not defend the law if in fact the NRA filed an appeal with the high court.
“Notwithstanding CA11’s opinion today, I believe restricting the right of law-abiding adults to purchase firearms is unconstitutional,” Uthmeier said on X on March 14, adding that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reached the same conclusion. “Men and women old enough to fight and die for our country should be able to purchase firearms to defend themselves and their families.”
In short, should the Supreme Court agree to take the case, there won't be a defendant present to actually fight them.
Sure, there will be briefs filed by every gun control group you've ever heard of and a few thousand you probably haven't, but without someone there in the room to defend the law, it's unlikely that the Supreme Court will uphold it.
Should that happen, similar age restrictions around the country are likely to fall as well.
In fact, depending on how the decision is worded, it may also kill the federal prohibition on handgun sales to those under 21.
That might be a bit of a stretch, though. The Court tends to try and rule as narrowly as possible, which means that it's unlikely they'll frame anything so sweeping, but I also expected the Bruen decision to be a lot more narrow than it was, so it's entirely possible I'm wrong.
In fact, my wife says I'm wrong all the time, so...
Anyway, this has the potential to be a massive Second Amendment win. It'll also be a big win for legal adults throughout the nation who haven't quite reached the age of 21. If states can't ban them from buying certain types of guns, then they can be in a position to defend themselves, just as our Founding Fathers intended.
It should never have come to this, but since it did, let's hope the Supreme Court agrees to hear this one.
The results, if it does, should be entertaining, to say the least.