{"id":105420,"date":"2024-11-06T17:59:11","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T22:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=105420"},"modified":"2024-11-06T18:00:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T23:00:06","slug":"105420","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=105420","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Colorado Under-21 Gun Sales Ban<\/a><\/p>\n

The Centennial State can once again deny 18-to-20-year-olds the ability to purchase any firearms.<\/p>\n

A three-judge panel for the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned a lower court injunction against Colorado\u2019s recently passed gun sales ban for adults under 21. The panel determined that the lower court \u201cabused its discretion\u201d by finding the ban likely unconstitutional. Instead, it ruled that commercial firearm purchases are not covered under the Second Amendment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPineda has partially met his burden at step one by demonstrating that (1) 18- to 20-year-olds fall within \u2018the people,\u2019 and (2) the arms he wishes to purchase constitute protected \u201carms,\u201d Judge Richard Federico wrote for the majority in RMGO v. Polis. \u201cHowever, Pineda fails to prove that SB 23-169 implicates his right to \u2018keep and bear\u2019 arms, the third prong of step one. This is because SB 23-169 is presumptively lawful as a law that imposes conditions or qualifications upon the sale and purchase of arms and thus does not fall within the protections of the plain text of the Second Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ruling deals a significant blow to Colorado gun-rights advocates looking to stave off the state\u2019s increasingly restrictive approach to firearms. The opinion opens the door for the state\u2019s young adult sales ban to take effect for the first time, and its capacious view of permissible commercial sales restrictions could invite many additional regulations.<\/p>\n

The case stems from Senate Bill 169, which Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law in May 2023. The bill raised the state\u2019s minimum age to purchase any firearm to 21. State policy previously allowed 18-year-olds to purchase rifles and shotguns but not handguns.<\/p>\n

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) immediately sued Polis over the law and secured a preliminary injunction against its enforcement last August, the same day it was supposed to take effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court finds that the Governor has failed to meet his burden to demonstrate that SB23-169 is consistent with the Nation\u2019s historical tradition of firearms regulation,\u201d Judge Philip Brimmer wrote at the time.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Unlike Brimmer\u2019s opinion, the Tenth Circuit panel did not consider whether Colorado\u2019s ban fit within the historical tradition of gun regulation. Instead, it cited the Supreme Court\u2019s language in its Heller decision referring to \u201claws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms\u201d as presumptively lawful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hold that as an aged-based condition or qualification on the sale of arms, SB 23-169 is covered by the safe harbor and, as such, falls outside of the scope of the Second Amendment\u2019s right to \u2018keep and bear\u2019 arms,\u201d Judge Federico, a Joe Biden appointee, wrote. \u201cIn our effort to discern the best reading of the quartet of Second Amendment cases, we conclude that the prohibition on conduct contained within SB 23-169 does not require us to proceed beyond Bruen step one.\u201d<\/p>\n

RMGO criticized the panel\u2019s decision and vowed to keep opposing the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very temporary setback, and we look forward to fighting back against this outrageous ruling,\u201d the group said in a statement. \u201cThis law very clearly violates both the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court\u2019s precedents, and we look forward to ultimately striking it off the books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Governor Polis\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The ruling leaves the Tenth Circuit as one of the few appellate courts to uphold an age-based restriction under the Second Amendment since the Supreme Court altered how courts review such cases in 2022\u2019s New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. The Supreme Court has yet to opine directly on age-based restrictions on the Second Amendment. However, last month, it vacated the Third Circuit\u2019s decision striking down Pennsylvania\u2019s ban on gun carry for adults under 21 during declared states of emergency and ordered it to reconsider the matter with its most recent Second Amendment case in mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Colorado Under-21 Gun Sales Ban The Centennial State can once again deny 18-to-20-year-olds the ability to purchase any firearms. A three-judge panel for the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned a lower court injunction against Colorado\u2019s recently passed gun sales ban for adults under 21. The panel determined that … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courts","category-crap-for-brains"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105421,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105420\/revisions\/105421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}