Minnesota’s ban on gun carry permits for young adults is unconstitutional, appeals court rules

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota’s law that bans people ages 18 to 20 from getting permits to carry guns in public is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, affirming a lower court decision that concluded the Second Amendment guarantees the rights of young adults to bear arms for self-defense.

“Minnesota has not met its burden to proffer sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption that 18 to 20-year-olds seeking to carry handguns in public for self defense are protected by the right to keep and bear arms,” the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.

The three-judge panel cited a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that expanded gun rights in 2022 and a major decision last month that upheld a federal gun control law that is intended to protect victims of domestic violence.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez reluctantly struck down the Minnesota law in March of 2023 but granted the state’s emergency motion for a stay, keeping the ban in place until the state’s appeal could be resolved. Her ruling was an example of how the 2022 Supreme Court case, known as the Bruen decision, upended gun laws nationwide, dividing courts and sowing confusion over what restrictions can remain in force.

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The Bruen decision, which was the conservative-led high court’s biggest gun ruling in more than a decade, held that Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense. And it established a new test for evaluating challenges to gun restrictions, saying courts must now ask whether restrictions are consistent with the country’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office represented the state in the case, said he was “extremely disappointed” in the ruling.

“This epidemic of gun violence will continue unabated unless we do something about it,” Ellison said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling made that far more difficult by opening the floodgates to litigation from gun advocacy groups looking to undo reasonable safety legislation.. ... The people of Minnesota want and deserve solutions that reduce shootings and improve public safety, and today’s ruling only makes that more difficult.”

The state argued to the appeals court that Second Amendment protections should not apply to 18 to-20-year-olds, even if they’re law-abiding, because the states have always had the authority to regulate guns in the hands of irresponsible or dangerous groups of people. The state argued that people under the age of 21 aren’t competent to make responsible decisions about guns, and that they pose a danger to themselves and others as a result.

But the appeals court said the plain text of the Second Amendment does not set an age limit, so ordinary, law-abiding young adults are presumed to be protected. And it said crime statistics provided by the state for the case don’t justify a conclusion that 18 to 20-year-olds who are otherwise eligible for carry permits present an unacceptable risk of danger.

Rob Doar, senior vice president for government affairs of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, which sued to overturn the law, said people who hold carry permits are “overwhelmingly law-abiding.” He said Minnesota 18 to-20-year-olds should be able to begin applying for carry permits effective immediately, assuming they meet the same legal requirements as other adults, which include training from a certified instructor and background checks.

Ellison noted that the ruling came down just three days after a 20-year-old in Pennsylvania shot and wounded former President Donald Trump with a gun purchased by his father. Pennsylvania requires applicants for permits to carry concealed firearms to be 21. Open carry is generally allowed everywhere in Pennsylvania except Philadelphia.