Christopher Paris, Commissioner, Pennsylvania State Police v. Madison M. Lara, et al.

Pennsylvania—like 31 other states and the federal government—establishes 21 as the minimum age for certain gun rights. A divided three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals ruled that these laws violate the Second Amendment and enjoined a Pennsylvania law prohibiting 18-to-20-year-olds from openly carrying firearms during a declared state of emergency. App.1a49a. The panel majority held that Pennsylvania had to point to specific Founding-era statutes imposing similar restrictions on the freedom of 18-to-20-year-olds to carry guns to prevail, and could not rely on any historical evidence from the mid-to-late-1800s. App.17a-20a, 25a-26a. In March of this year, the Court of Appeals denied en banc review by a narrow 7-6 vote. App.83a-84a. One of the dissenting Judges admonished her colleagues for the “perplexing” decision to preempt this Court’s then-imminent decision in United States v. Rahimi, noting that it would “necessarily bear on the panel’s reasoning and may well abrogate it[.]” App.105a. The question presented is: Do firearms laws that restrict the rights of 18- to-20-year-olds comply with the Second Amendment?