Court to hear challenge of banning rifle sales to anyone under age 21

TALLAHASSEE — Florida lawmakers and thenGov. Rick Scott rushed to take action in 2018 after former student Nikolas Cruz fatally shot 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

And in an unusual move in a Capitol dominated by Republicans who tout the Second Amendment, they passed a law that prevented people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns.

But more than four years later, a federal appeals court is poised to hear arguments about whether the law is constitutional.

The National Rifle Association went to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker last year upheld the law. A panel of the Atlanta-based appeals court will hear arguments Thursday in Miami.

The l aw effectively banned gun sales to people under 21 in Florida, as federal law already prevented sales of handguns to members of that age group.

The NRA contends the state l aw violates Second Amendment and equal-protection rights and has contrasted it with other laws related to people under 21.

“Florida l aw allows young adults those it categorically deems unlawful and irresponsible (in the gun law) to serve in the military and in law enforcement,” NRA attorneys wrote in a brief last year. “It also allows young adults to serve on a jury, enter into contracts, sue and be sued, get married, and own property. Florida at once deems young adults to be law-abiding and responsible enough to enforce the law but not law-abiding and responsible enough to be trusted to follow it.”

But in a document filed in district court, attorneys for the state wrote that people ages 18 to 20 are a “particularly high-risk group” and pointed to scientific evidence about impulsive and risky behavior.

“Empirical evidence bears out that because 18-to-20-year-olds are uniquely likely to engage in impulsive, emotional, and risky behaviors that offer immediate or short-term rewards, drawing the line for legal purchase of firearms at 21 is a reasonable method of addressing the Legislature’s public safety concerns,” the document said.

In his ruling upholding the law, Walker, in part, focused on a landmark 2008 U.S. Supreme Court case known as District of Columbia v. Heller. While the Heller case is broadly considered a major victory for gun-rights supporters, it also said certain “longstanding prohibitions” about guns do not violate the Second Amendment, according to Walker’s ruling.

The Heller case cited prohibitions on such things as felons and mentally ill people possessing guns, Walker concluded that restrictions on 18-to-20year-old people buying guns were “analogous” to the restrictions cited in the Heller case.

“In short, Heller’s listed regulations are similar to restrictions on the purchase of firearms by 18-to-20-year-olds; all target specific groups that are thought to be especially dangerous with firearms,” he wrote.

The NRA contends the state law violates Second Amendment and equal-protection rights and has contrasted it with other laws related to people under 21.