Siding with a 19-year-old man who was spotted with a gun in his waistband, a Broward County circuit judge Friday ruled that a state law barring people under age 21 from carrying concealed weapons violates Second Amendment rights.
Judge Frank Ledee issued a nine-page ruling that said Florida’s “prohibition on the concealed carry of firearms by eighteen-to-twenty year olds strips a class of legal adults of their ability to exercise the very right the Constitution guarantees.”
Ledee cited U.S. Supreme Court rulings in recent years that required analyzing the “historical tradition” of firearm regulation when determining whether laws violate the Second Amendment.
“The state has failed to identify Founding-era law that broadly prohibited the concealed carry of firearms by eighteen-to-twenty year olds,” Ledee wrote. “The state also failed to cite to any historical regulation imposing a burden or justification comparable to Florida’s concealed carry ban as applied to eighteen-to-twenty year olds.”
The ruling had not been posted on the Broward County circuit court website Friday afternoon but was posted on the J.A.A.B. Blog, a site with local legal news, and was reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Ledee ruled that the law was unconstitutional as applied to the specific case of Joel Walkes, who was arrested in March after a police officer saw a bulge in his waistband. Walkes was carrying a semi-automatic pistol, Ledee wrote. The judge dismissed a third-degree felony charge against Walkes.
The ruling focused on an age limitation for carrying concealed weapons — which is separate from a more highly publicized state law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns.
The Legislature passed the ban on buying long guns after the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people. Federal law has long barred people under 21 from buying handguns. While sales of firearms are prohibited, people under 21 may have guns, for example, if they receive them as gifts.
Friday’s ruling came amid a flurry of legal battles in Florida and other states about gun rights. The National Rifle Association is challenging the 2018 Florida law barring people under 21 from buying long guns. Federal district and appeals courts have upheld the law, but an NRA appeal is pending at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, a panel of the state’s 1st District Court of Appeal in September ruled that Florida’s longstanding ban on openly carrying guns is unconstitutional. Attorney General James Uthmeier embraced the panel’s decision as “the law of the state” and issued guidance for prosecutors, police and sheriffs warning them not to arrest or put on trial “law-abiding citizens carrying a firearm in a manner that is visible to others.”
Uthmeier also has refused to defend the gun-buying age limit at the U.S. Supreme Court.
–Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida
Not surprised in the least says
What a great idea! Adolescent boys are well known for their maturity, restraint and good judgment. What could possibly go wrong?
Atwp says
And mass gun killings will get worse.
JC says
“What a great idea! Adolescent boys are well known for their maturity, restraint and good judgment. What could possibly go wrong?”
Sorry, but once you are 18 you are a man, not a boy. The law was classic age discrimination.
Pogo says
@Yosemite Sam for President, 2028
Bo Peep says
Make everything 18 or stop the draft for those under 21. You cannot send a person to war then claim morality when it comes to guns and alcohol.
R.S. says
That’s all a matter of misreading the Second Amendment, which begins with the ablativus absolutus: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State.” That is, members of a militia or reservists of a militia that may be called up to military service, should have guns at their disposal. I suspect that much of this entire brouhaha about guns in private hands is evidence of the general dumbing down of the US public. At the time when at least the well-to-do had a well-grounded knowledge of grammar, this entire brouhaha would go up in smoke. And, yes, anyone below the age of maturity of the frontal lobe, particularly the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), is going to be handicapped in his/her judgement. Actually, no one before age 25 to 30 should be armed in either the military of private life.
oldtimer says
If you can join the military at 18 and die or kill for your country, why not?
DaleL says
The Second Amendment begins with the 13 words: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,…”. Instead of ignoring what is 1/2 of the text of the Amendment, more emphasis should be placed on the “well regulated Militia”.
The final 14 words are: “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Notice however, that it is the right to “keep and bear” which shall not be infringed. The Amendment does not explicitly protect the right to own arms. In the context of the first part of the Amendment, isn’t it more reasonable to believe that the Amendment was intended to provide a right for anyone (people) to be a member of the Militia. Their right is to be able to keep their government approved and/or issued firearm in their home and to bear the firearm(s) in the context of the Militia.
Because 18 year olds may serve in the military (Militia), I actually, reluctantly, agree with this court decision. The real issue is not age, but rather the almost complete lack of firearms training. Training which should be mandatory for a person to own, keep, or bear any firearm. Since this is in context of the military (Militia), the cost of training should logically come from the military budget.
Deborah Coffey says
Oh hell, let’s just hand the guns out to kindergartners. The whole country can parade around with guns on their hips. We are a sick and dying nation. Anyone in favor of saving it and bringing it back to health?
TR says
JC, maybe on paper they are. But I was told last week that the human mind doesn’t reach maturity until they are 25. Even then I think it’s questionable in some cases. There are so many times when a human under 25 have done more dumb things that make older adults shake their head and wonder what they were thinking. Well they weren’t.
Happy now ? says
For every action there is an inevitable REACTION !
This is the fault of the GUN CONTROL LOBBY. I they would have kept their mouths shut this wouldn’t have been brought to the courts, now a JUDGE has ruled.