Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed a response brief in a lawsuit challenging Massachusetts’ ban on the purchase, carry and possession of nearly all modern firearms by 18-20-year-olds.
The brief in opposition was submitted in response to the government’s motion for summary judgment filing in Escher v. Noble. For an individual to purchase or possess a firearm in Massachusetts they must first acquire one of two licenses: a firearm identification card or a license to carry. The only option available to 18-20-year-olds, however, is the identification card. Even with the ID card, residents in this age group are only allowed to purchase and possess rifles and shotguns that are not “large capacity” or semi-automatic. Handguns are unattainable entirely.
“The Second Amendment protects all American adults, not some discreet subset,” said SAF Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. “Imagine Massachusetts deciding that 19-year-olds didn’t have the right to protest, or that 20-year-olds could be searched and arrested without probable cause. There would be protests at the legislature’s front door. The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, it works just like the rest of them do.”
SAF is joined in the case by the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners’ Action League, Commonwealth Second Amendment, Firearms Policy Coalition, Gun Owners of America and private citizen Mack Escher.
“Adults 18 to 20 enjoy the same constitutional rights as the rest of the adult population,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The rights protected by the Constitution are inked there precisely because lawmakers like those in Massachusetts would otherwise strip them from groups of people that they think don’t deserve them. The idealogues in Massachusetts think they can trample on the rights of 18-20-year-olds, and we welcome the opportunity to correct this error in court.”
For more information visit SAF.org.
The Second Amendment Foundation (saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the fundamental rights of individuals enshrined in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. SAF engages in aggressive legal action to ensure the principles of armed self-defense, personal liberty, and the ownership of arms are defended, secured, and restored. Through public education initiatives, SAF teaches the importance of the Second Amendment to promote a society that values and exercises the right to keep and bear arms.
Young adults and the Second Amendment
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