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 cites lack of historical precedent for age restriction
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.”
Decision stems from specific case involving 19-year-old
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.
Ruling distinct from broader gun purchase laws
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.
Decision aligns with ongoing gun rights challenges
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.
