Pennsylvania can’t stop young adults from openly carrying guns during emergencies, U.S. court rules

Young adults in Pennsylvania cannot be arrested for openly carrying guns in public during a declared state of emergency, at least while a court fight over the issue plays out, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit judges, in a 2-1 decision, relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s influential so-called Bruen decision to find that 18- to 20-year-olds enjoy the same Second Amendment rights as other citizens, just as they do the right to vote.

The panel meanwhile revived the lawsuit that challenges the Pennsylvania ban, which a district judge had dismissed.

“We understand that a reasonable debate can be had over allowing young adults to be armed, but the issue before us is a narrow one,” U.S. Circuit Court Judge Kent A. Jordan wrote. “Our question is whether the (state police) commissioner has borne his burden of proving that evidence of founding-era regulations supports Pennsylvania’s restriction on 18-to-20- year-olds’ Second Amendment rights, and the answer to that is no.”

The case is one of many filed around the country by gun rights groups that seek to chip away at gun control measures passed by state and local lawmakers.

The Bruen decision said that judges, to uphold the bans, must look to the nation’s history and tradition when evaluating gun control measures. Courts have since struck down restrictions involving domestic abusers, nonviolent felons, marijuana users and others.

U.S. Circuit Judge Felipe Restrepo, in a dissent, said he did not believe the 19th century founding fathers considered people under 21 to have full legal rights.