FPC, NRA Challenge Pennsylvania Law Barring Adults Under 21 From Getting Carry Permits

Federal law precludes adults under 21 from buying handguns from a licensed dealer. It doesn't preclude them from owning handguns, and that's an important distinction. The reason it's important is that their right to keep and bear arms still exists, even if there's an idiotic law that makes it harder for them to exercise it.

But in Pennsylvania, owning a gun and being able to actually bear that arm is a completely different matter.

So, the Firearms Policy Coalition and National Rifle Association have stepped in and they're suing the state of Pennsylvania over it.

From a press release:

Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced today that it filed a new federal Second Amendment lawsuit, Maines v. Bethel, challenging Pennsylvania’s unconstitutional ban on lawful firearm carry in most public places by adults under 21. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the lawsuit is brought by FPC and the National Rifle Association (NRA), alongside a member whose right to carry firearms for self-defense is being denied by the Commonwealth.

Under Pennsylvania law, individuals generally must obtain a license to carry a concealed firearm, carry a firearm in a vehicle, or carry a firearm in public in Philadelphia. But Pennsylvania categorically prohibits adults under 21 from even applying for the license they need to exercise those rights. As a result, peaceable 18-to-20-year-old adults who are legally eligible to possess firearms face criminal prosecution, potentially including felony charges and years in prison, simply for exercising the same rights available to other adults.

Although Pennsylvania generally allows unlicensed open carry in some circumstances, that does not solve the problem. Adults under 21 still cannot generally carry firearms for self-defense in their vehicles or on Philadelphia’s public streets. Even a routine trip to work, the grocery store, or another destination by car can put the exercise of their rights out of reach. 

...

This latest challenge builds directly on FPC’s successful litigation against Pennsylvania’s age-based carry restrictions. In Lara v. Paris, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that 18-to-20-year-old adults are protected by the Second Amendment and rejected Pennsylvania’s restrictions on their ability to openly carry firearms during declared emergencies. After the Supreme Court returned the case for reconsideration, the Third Circuit reaffirmed its decision in January 2025. 

But despite that binding precedent, Pennsylvania continues to enforce its separate licensing restriction, denying these same adults the ability to obtain carry licenses and exercise their rights on equal terms with other peaceable adults.

"Pennsylvania already lost in the Third Circuit when it tried to deny 18-to-20-year-olds their right to carry firearms, but the Commonwealth still insists on treating peaceable adults as second-class citizens," noted FPC President Brandon Combs. He went on to articulate all the ways these individuals are, in fact, adults such as being able to enlist in the military, vote, get married, and sign legally binding contracts.

They're adults, and they should be treated like adults.

Pennsylvania already tried to restrict their rights once and lost. Now they get to do it all over again, almost as if they have some kind of humiliation... fixation or something.

Gross, I know, but why else aren't they getting the hint? I get that people like Gov. Josh Shapiro aren't fans of the right to keep and bear arms, but come on. They've either got to be enjoying this, be so clueless they need a constant reminder to breathe, or some combination thereof. I'm leaning toward either the first or last explanation, myself. I'm not saying they're not idiots, only that they have to be enjoying the losing.

There's literally no way for an adult under the age of 21 to carry a firearm lawfully. That's a direct infringement of their right to bear arms, which only has one possible meaning, and that means nothing we're seeing here is remotely justifiable, particularly after the Bruen decision.

Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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