Philadelphia — Today, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel released a legal opinion declaring that the federal law prohibiting licensed dealers from selling handguns to 18-to-20-year-olds is unconstitutional and will no longer be enforced.
Adam Garber, CEO of CeaseFirePA, issued the following statement on how this endangers Pennsylvanians:
“Today, the Trump Administration told gun dealers it’s open season on selling handguns to teenagers,” said Adam Garber, CEO of CeaseFirePA. “With 18 to 20-year-olds committing gun homicides at triple the rate of people 21 and older, all this will do is cost lives and pad the gun industry’s bottom line.
“The DOJ cannot decide to rewrite our law through unilateral action, but they are trying to abandon the common-sense safeguards that have prevented shootings for decades. Our Governor and Attorney General must step up now to uphold the rule of law and keep Pennsylvanians safe.
“Law enforcement in Pennsylvania should keep doing exactly what they have been doing: enforcing the laws that keep guns out of the hands of teenagers. We’re calling on Governor Shapiro and Attorney General Sunday to publicly commit to upholding state and federal law, and to work with state lawmakers to close any gap this administration tries to open.”
Numerous studies have found there is a heightened risk of allowing access to firearms for under-21-year-olds.
- 18-to-20-year-olds commit gun homicides at nearly three times the rate of adults 21 and older, despite making up a small share of the U.S. population.
- The median age of school shooters in the U.S. since 1966 is 18.
- Federal law has restricted handgun sales to those under 21 for good reason: the prefrontal cortex, which governs judgment and impulse control, is not fully developed until at least age 26.
