Pennsylvania Sued Over Carry Ban

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Pennsylvania is fighting a legal battle it already lost once, and apparently learned nothing from it.

"Pennsylvania already lost in the Third Circuit when it tried to deny 18-to-20-year-olds their right to carry firearms, but the Commonwealth still insists on treating peaceable adults as second-class citizens."

The Third Circuit ruled against them, the Supreme Court sent it back, and the Third Circuit ruled against them again. Pennsylvania looked at that outcome and kept the licensing ban anyway. That's not a legal strategy — that's just running out the clock on young adults who can't carry in their own vehicles.

"Federal law already bars under-21s from buying handguns from licensed dealers — a separate fight entirely — but it doesn't touch their right to carry one they lawfully possess. Pennsylvania's licensing scheme goes further than federal law by making lawful carry nearly impossible for this age group in the places they're most likely to need it."

This is the part that gets me. A 19-year-old can legally own a handgun — say, one passed down from a parent — and the moment he puts it in his car to drive across Philadelphia, he's facing a felony. The right exists on paper. The ability to exercise it has been stripped out. That's not a gray area, that's a straight-line contradiction.

The Bruen history-and-tradition test has already done the heavy lifting here. There's no 18th-century tradition of singling out 18-to-20-year-olds for a separate licensing tier — because there wasn't one. Pennsylvania's lawyers are going to have a rough time at the district court level.

If you're 18-20 and carrying in a state with similar restrictions, how are you navigating the gap between what the courts say your rights are and what the law actually lets you do day to day?

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Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett