A Texas judge has struck down a recent state law that prohibits adult civilians between the ages of 18 and 20 from carrying a handgun, claiming that such a law is unconstitutional.
On Thursday, district court Judge Mark Pittman ruled that the law violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Pittman also examined history and determined that prohibiting adults, though young, from carrying handguns openly had no historical precedent.
“The undisputed historical evidence establishes that 18-to-20-year-olds were understood to be a part of the militia in the Founding Era,” Pittman wrote in the opinion.
The lawsuit against the state ban was first filed last November by two unnamed adults between the ages of 18 and 20, as well as the Firearms Policy Coalition, a self-described “next generation” gun-rights advocacy group that engages in “litigation, research, scholarly publications, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory action, grassroots activism, education, outreach, and other programs” to achieve its aims.