"At 18, you can vote, get married, sign contracts, and serve in the military — but Pennsylvania says you can't even apply for a license to carry a gun in your own car or on a street in Philadelphia."

That's not rhetorical. That's the practical reality for an 18-year-old driving through Philly at night — legally disarmed by a licensing system he can't even enter. Open carry might be technically legal outside the city, but the moment he gets in a car or crosses into Philadelphia, he's got no legal path forward.

"Pennsylvania has to show a historical tradition of disarming 18-to-20-year-olds — a tradition FPC says doesn't exist."

Bruen flipped the burden here, and that's the whole ballgame. Pennsylvania doesn't get to say "we've always done it this way" — they have to show it was done that way in 1791. Given that the Third Circuit already ruled against the state on the emergency open carry version of this same fight, Pennsylvania is essentially trying to win a rematch with a worse hand.

The patchwork of active cases — Minnesota, Illinois, Georgia, Louisiana — signals this isn't just one lawsuit. It's a coordinated push to get circuit courts on record before this lands at the Supreme Court.

If you've got a range-ready 19-year-old in your household, where do you stand on them carrying — and does your state's age restriction change how you approach that conversation?

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