Supreme Court leaves in place Pennsylvania law barring people under 21 from carrying guns

The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling from Pennsylvania that allowed residents under 21 to carry firearms in public, though the justices declined for now to hear arguments in the case themselves.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling from Pennsylvania that allowed residents under 21 to carry firearms in public, though the justices declined for now to hear arguments in the case themselves. At issue was a state law that barred 18-to-20 years olds from open carrying firearms during declared states of emergencies. The court’s decision tosses a federal appeals court ruling that found the law violated the Second Amendment. The Supreme Court did not explain its ruling and no dissents were noted. Pennsylvania, like 31 other states, sets 21 as the minimum age for certain gun rights. The state barred 18-to-20 years olds from openly carrying firearms during a state of emergency, including the one declared during the Covid-19 pandemic. Three individual plaintiffs who wanted to carry weapons for self defense and two gun rights groups challenged the law. Relying on the Supreme Court’s landmark Second Amendment decision from 2022, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a divided three-judge appeals court panel found that the law was unconstitutional because there was not a similar law on the books at the time the Second Amendment was ratified.