The US Justice Department says a federal law that has stopped licensed gun dealers from selling handguns to people under 21 for nearly six decades is unconstitutional.
That doesn’t mean the law has suddenly disappeared. But the Trump administration says it can no longer criminally enforce it against dealers who sell handguns to otherwise law-abiding adults between 18 and 20.
The restriction dates back to the Gun Control Act of 1968.
Under the law, federally licensed dealers cannot sell a handgun or handgun ammunition to anyone under 21.
An 18-year-old can already buy a rifle or shotgun from a licensed dealer under federal law and depending on state law, someone between 18 and 20 can also acquire a handgun through a private sale.
In a legal opinion released Friday, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel said 18-to-20-year-olds are covered by the Second Amendment just like other adults.
Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser pointed to some of the other things Americans are legally allowed, or required, to do once they turn 18.
They can vote, sit on a jury and can also be drafted into the military.
The Justice Department argues there isn’t enough historical evidence from around the time of America’s founding to justify treating them differently when it comes to buying a handgun.
Its opinion points to early militia laws that required service from age 18 and, in many cases, required those men to provide their own weapons.
So can an 18-year-old now simply walk into a gun store and buy a handgun?
The law passed by Congress remains on the books. The DOJ opinion does not repeal it, nor is it a Supreme Court ruling that strikes the law down nationwide.
What changes is the federal government’s position on enforcing it.
The Justice Department says prosecutors cannot constitutionally seek criminal penalties against licensed dealers for selling handguns to otherwise law-abiding 18-to-20-year-olds.
The courts haven’t reached a single answer on the issue either.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has found the federal restriction unconstitutional, while the Fourth Circuit upheld it. Other federal appeals courts have also reached different conclusions when looking at state age restrictions.
The Supreme Court has so far stayed out of that particular fight.
Gun rights groups have spent years challenging the age limit and welcomed the administration’s shift.
2026-09-19 21:11:00
