[Story by Jacob Lehrer]

Last week, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas struck down a Texas law that prohibits 18-20 year-olds from carrying a handgun outside of the home. At the age of 18 a Texas law-abiding citizen can obtain a rifle, even without a license, under Texas law. However you must be 21 to carry a handgun. Now, Federal Judge Mark Pittman has changed that rule.

His ruling comes after a major Supreme Court case for Second Amendment rights. “The Second (and the Fourteenth) Amendment “protect[s] an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self defense outside the home,” according to the Supreme Court case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. The decision in that case was that the state cannot prevent citizens from obtaining a license to carry just because they cannot show they have a reasonable “need for self-defense.”

Judge Pittman made his decision primarily on the grounds that 18-20 year-olds are part of both terminologies: “the people” in the Constitution, and “the militia” in the Second Amendment. Pittman used caselaw and the nation’s history of gun regulation to come to these judgements.

The Federal District Court concluded that 18-20 year olds are part of the political members of the United States, stating that they are legal adults and, if law-abiding citizens, are considered part of “the people” mentioned in the Second Amendment.

Judge Pitman explained in his argument that the term, “the people,” is a consistent term throughout the Constitution. If they are protected by other Amendments, why not for the Second? Judge Pitman made it clear that there is a dividing line at the age of 18 for gun legislation since that is what we consider for adults. “In the Eighth Amendment context, the Supreme Court has said that where “a line must be drawn,” “[t]he age of 18 is the point where society draws the line for many purposes between childhood and adulthood,” said Pittman citing case law.

Pittman, using the nation’s history, concluded that it was not strange for 18 year olds to be considered part of the militia when the Second Amendment was written. “Thus, the undisputed historical evidence establishes that 18-to-20-year-olds were understood to be a part of the militia in the Founding Era…And because 18-to-20-year-olds were (and are) a part of the militia, the Second Amendment must protect their right to keep and bear arms,” said Judge Pittman.

Additionally, in the Continental Army, Pittman argues, abled-bodied men were expected to show up with their own arms. “The First Congress enacted legislation “command[ing] that every able-bodied male citizen between the ages of 18 and 45 be enrolled in the militia and equip himself with appropriate weaponry,” said Judge Pittman

    Pittman discussed several war heroes in American history that were under the age of 21. The history of the United States, Pittman declared, saw gun regulation extended to people under the age of 21. In his view, law abiding adults, who are able bodied, considered part of “the people,” and “the militia,” included adults 18-20 years old in the Constitution and the Second Amendment.