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HUGE WIN: Full 11th Circuit upholds Florida age limit for gun buys, rejecting NRA challenge
ATLANTA (CN) — A law preventing Floridians under the age of 21 from buying rifles and other long guns will remain on the books after a divided en banc 11th Circuit on Friday dove deep into the history of America’s founding to reject the National Rifle Association’s claim that the law is unconstitutional and out of line with historical gun regulations.
In an 8-4 ruling, the Atlanta-based appeals court found the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act constitutional, upholding a Florida federal judge’s decision despite three fiery dissenting opinions by Donald Trump-appointed judges.
The law, which was passed after a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, prohibits people under 21 from buying a long gun but does not ban them from receiving them as gifts.
“The Florida law that prohibits minors from purchasing firearms does not violate the Second and Fourteenth Amendments because it is consistent with our historical tradition of firearm regulation,” Chief U.S. Circuit Judge William Pryor wrote on behalf of the majority. “From the founding to the late-nineteenth century, our law limited the purchase of firearms by minors in different ways. The Florida law also limits the purchase of firearms by minors. And it does so for the same reason: to stop immature and impulsive individuals, like Nikolas Cruz, from harming themselves and others with deadly weapons.”
The NRA has argued the law violates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and flouts longstanding tradition allowing young adults to buy guns.
In an 8-4 ruling, the Atlanta-based appeals court found the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act constitutional, upholding a Florida federal judge’s decision despite three fiery dissenting opinions by Donald Trump-appointed judges.
The law, which was passed after a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, prohibits people under 21 from buying a long gun but does not ban them from receiving them as gifts.
“The Florida law that prohibits minors from purchasing firearms does not violate the Second and Fourteenth Amendments because it is consistent with our historical tradition of firearm regulation,” Chief U.S. Circuit Judge William Pryor wrote on behalf of the majority. “From the founding to the late-nineteenth century, our law limited the purchase of firearms by minors in different ways. The Florida law also limits the purchase of firearms by minors. And it does so for the same reason: to stop immature and impulsive individuals, like Nikolas Cruz, from harming themselves and others with deadly weapons.”
The NRA has argued the law violates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and flouts longstanding tradition allowing young adults to buy guns.
https://www.courthousenews.com/full-11th-circuit-upholds-florida-age-limit-for-gun-buys-rejecting-nra-challenge/