Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Ban on Handgun Sales to Those Under 21

A panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a federal law banning the sale of handguns to those under the age of 21 is unconstitutional. The three-judge panel voted 2-1 on the law. "We first find that 18-year-olds possess Second Amendment rights," Judge Julius Richardson wrote in the majority opinion, adding that Congress used misleading data in 1968 to pass the law. "Congress may not restrict the rights of an entire group of law-abiding adults because a minuscule portion of that group commits a disproportionate amount of gun violence." Judge James A. Wynn Jr., who dissented, said the ruling opposed efforts to control gun violence. The law does not prohibit the possession of handguns by people under 21; it only prevents licensed dealers from selling to those under 21. The 4th Circuit's ruling will only apply to the five states of the circuit, which are Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina. 

The story received wide coverage from outlets across the political spectrum. Outlets on the right tended to focus on the majority opinion's reasoning and the Second Amendment, while some outlets on the left framed the story in the context of gun violence in America, and tended to speculate that the decision is likely to be appealed to the full court.