A three-judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that Minnesota’s ban on concealed carry by young adults is unconstitutional.
It was a victory for the Second Amendment Foundation and its partners in a lawsuit known as Worth v. Jacobson. SAF is joined in the case by the Firearms Policy Coalition, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and four citizens, Austin Dye, Alex Anderson, Joe Knudsen and Kristin Worth, for whom the case is known. They are represented by attorneys Blair W. Nelson in Bemidji, Minn., and David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and William V. Bergstrom at Cooper & Kirk in Washington, D.C.
The 27-page ruling came down Tuesday but was overshadowed by the ongoing Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
According to KSTP News, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison can appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
While the ruling was a win for the gun rights community, it was a loss for the gun control lobby and the attorneys general from 20 Democrat-controlled states and the District of Columbia, who all signed into an amicus brief supporting the Minnesota law. Those states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
Aso submitting amicus briefs supporting the restrictive laws were Everytown for Gun Safety, Giffords Law Center, March for Our Lives Foundation and the Brady Center.
In a statement, Alan Gottlieb, SAF founder and executive vice president, “This is a significant victory for the rights of young. It is one more step in our crusade to win firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time.”
SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut, who practices law in Pennsylvania, observed, “We are encouraged that, yet another circuit court has correctly concluded that 18-20-year-olds are, in fact, part of ‘the People’ to which the Second Amendment extends. This nation’s history and tradition demonstrate that the bans affecting young adults are not consistent with the right to keep and bear arms and SAF will continue to aggressively challenge these bans which create a tiered system of constitutional rights.”
Writing for the court, Circuit Judge Duane Benton observed, “Importantly, the Second Amendment’s plain text does not have an age limit…. Ordinary, law-abiding 18 to 20-year-old Minnesotans are unambiguously members of the people. Because the plain text of the Second Amendment covers the plaintiffs and their conduct, it is presumptively constitutionally protected…”
The ruling upholds a 2023 decision by U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez, striking down the restriction.
