Senate Democrats Push Age 21 Gun Ban Despite Court Rulings

As President Donald Trump’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) evaluations federal businesses and departments to establish billions of {dollars} in wasted tax cash, a Senate Democrat is looking for to waste much more by introducing unconstitutional laws with little probability of passing.

On Friday, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, introduced laws aiming to extend the minimal age for buying so-called “assault weapons”—frequent semi-automatic rifles owned and utilized by hundreds of thousands of law-abiding People—and so-called “high-capacity” ammunition magazines from 18 to 21 years previous.

“Seven years after a 19-year-old gunman tragically took the lives of 17 college students and college in Parkland, we’re nonetheless seeing far too many preventable mass shootings by the hands of lethal assault rifles,” Sen. Padilla mentioned in a information launch asserting the measure.“For those who can’t legally purchase a handgun, there’s no cause you must be capable of purchase a military-grade weapon. This commonsense laws would elevate the minimal age to buy or carry an assault weapon or high-capacity ammunition from 18 to 21—the identical customary already in place for buying handguns—serving to to curb the gun violence epidemic that continues to devastate communities in California and throughout the nation.”

In fact, Padilla’s measure, generally known as the Age 21 Act, is a futile try and appease anti-gun teams that bolster the marketing campaign funds of Democrats in Congress. In latest months, a number of courts have dominated towards legal guidelines that discriminate towards people aged 18 to twenty relating to their Second Modification rights.

In April 2024, the U.S. District Courtroom for the Western District of Pennsylvania dominated that the state regulation forbidding adults beneath 21 from making use of for a carry allow is unconstitutional, as is the regulation banning adults that age from open carrying throughout an emergency. The case, Lara v. Evanchick, was filed by the Second Modification Basis, Firearms Coverage Coalition and three non-public residents.

In July 2024, the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit dominated {that a} Minnesota regulation banning 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds from carrying a hid firearm is unconstitutional beneath the Second Modification. Within the case Value v. Jacobson, the St. Louis-based circuit court docket unanimously affirmed a decrease court docket’s resolution placing down the regulation.

Late final month, a three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals dominated that the federal regulation limiting 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds from shopping for handguns is unconstitutional. The case, Reese v. ATF, overturned a decrease court docket ruling on the matter.

Additionally in January, the Third Circuit Courtroom of Appeals blocked the state police from arresting law-abiding 18-20-year-old Minnesotans for overtly carrying firearms throughout a declared state of emergency. The state regulation had banned carry for that age group in emergency conditions.

Nonetheless, Democrats are unabashed at making an attempt to move laws that may virtually actually be struck down in court docket ultimately. The measure is cosponsored by 18 senators, all Democrats, together with Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.

“Congress can’t sit by and do nothing whereas gun violence stays the primary killer of youngsters in America,” Sen. Duckworth mentioned. “As we bear in mind the 17 lives lower quick at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty, we should honor their reminiscence with motion. The Age 21 Act is frequent sense gun security laws that will assist stop mass shootings and do extra to maintain harmful weapons out of the arms of those that would search to hurt themselves or others. If Republicans have been really ‘pro-life,’ they might help our invoice and assist us save lives.”

Unsurprisingly, the Age 21 Act is endorsed by numerous anti-freedom organizations, together with Brady, March for Our Lives, Giffords, Newtown Motion Alliance, and Everytown for Gun Security.