A Florida law disqualifying 18- to 20-year-olds from legal concealed carry violated the Second Amendment, a Florida appeals court ruled Wednesday.
“Eighteen- to 20-year-olds can defend the country without restriction but can only utilize their Second Amendment right to self-defense with severe restrictions,” the three-judge panel stated in its opinion.
Police arrested 18-year-old Jaylen Tyrus Eubanks in 2024 for carrying a concealed firearm in violation of Florida law that restricts licensing provisions of concealed carry to eligible United States citizens 21 years or older.
A trial court denied Eubanks’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit, ruling that “licensing provisions for concealed carry are designed to ensure that only law abiding, responsible citizens are permitted to carry concealed firearms.”
Eubanks pleaded nolo contendere and appealed the court’s decision to deny dismissal, which was addressed by the Florida 4th District Court of Appeals.
The state attorney’s office argued against the motion to dismiss, claiming there was “nothing inherently unconstitutional about requiring a person to qualify for a permit to carry a concealed firearm or carefully restricting a few citizens from carrying a concealed firearm because of a concern for the public safety.”
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The state attorney’s office also claimed that the Founders defined adulthood as beginning at 21, not 18, and that 18-to-20-year-olds commit a disproportionate amount of firearm violence.
The appellate court acknowledged the Founders’ understanding of adulthood. However, the judges argued that courts should not restrict the understanding of “adults” to the Founders’ interpretation. Similarly, the courts do not restrict the understanding of “arms” to muskets or flintlock pistols, which is how “arms” would have been understood at the founding.
“The general understanding in our present world [is] that 18 is the age used to mark passage into adulthood,” the opinion reads.
The court also addressed the state attorney’s claim that 18-year-olds’ ability to conceal carry causes a “concern for the public safety.”
“No historical analogue presented would place 18- to 20-year-olds in the same category as felons, the mentally ill, or domestic violence offenders,” the judges stated.
The judges also cited the Militia Act of 1792, which stated that “all able-bodied men” were required to enroll in the militia “upon turning 18.”
Above these reasons, the court decided the ban clearly violated the Second Amendment.
“In this case, the inability of law-abiding adults aged 18 to 20 to use concealed carry available to all law-abiding adults 21 and older would certainly classify as a hindrance and, as such, an infringement of their Second Amendment rights,” the panel stated.
The court granted Eubanks’ motion to dismiss his conviction and declared the Florida rule unconstitutional.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed the law in April 2023 as part of an expansion of constitutional carry.
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