When a state is sued over the constitutionality of a law, the state’s attorney general is usually responsible for defending the state against the charges in court. However, things in Florida can get a bit topsy-turvy at times.
In a somewhat strange turn of events, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case challenging the state’s ban on firearms purchases by adults who are 18, 19, and 20 years of age. But according to a story at gulfcoastnewsnow.com, rather than wanting the court to uphold the law, Uthmeier wants the law overturned.
The Florida AG’s brief asks the high court to hear the National Rifle Association’s challenge to the punitive law, NRA v. Glass, which tramples the Second Amendment rights of young adults who have all of their other constitutional rights recognized.
“The upshot of Florida’s law is that a 20-year-old single mom is powerless to purchase a firearm to defend herself and her child against a menacing ex-boyfriend,” the brief states. “Same for the 19-year-old who lives alone in a bad neighborhood and fears gang violence. To be sure, some young adults may be able to borrow a firearm from a parent or other older adult. But the exercise of a vaunted constitutional right should not depend on that chance.”
The 11th Circuit Court ruled this spring that the law is constitutional. However, Uthmeier’s brief explains that the law doesn’t stand up to scrutiny under the second part of the Bruen standard—proving historical precedent.
“The Eleventh Circuit majority identified no history of states restricting the right of 18-to-20-year-olds to purchase firearms, and certainly no history of restrictions on the purchase rights of legal adults,” the brief states. “Just the opposite, founding-era evidence affirmatively demonstrates that early Americans trusted 18-to-20-year-olds with firearms and, indeed, expected them to possess and even purchase guns. At the very least, history reflects that society understood that those deemed sufficiently mature for purposes of the age of majority—which in Florida and elsewhere in this country is age 18—would have ready access to guns.”
A Republican-controlled state legislature passed the law in 2018 after the mass murder at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which killed 17 people. Then-Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican, signed the measure into law.
Since then, the NRA has been working to overturn the law. In May, the NRA petitioned SCOTUS to take up the case. At the time, John Commerford, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), said: “Americans 18 years of age and older are considered adults who can vote, enter into contracts, marry, and enlist and fight for our country. Those same adults are also guaranteed the right to defend themselves through the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The NRA is asking the Supreme Court to take up this critical case to safeguard the constitutional rights of adults under 21.”
Gun rights for young adults under 21 is a contentious issue throughout the country. While the 4th, 10th, and 11th Circuits have upheld such restrictions on 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds, the 3rd, 5th, and 8th Circuits have ruled them to be unconstitutional.
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