DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge has struck down one of the few remaining gun restrictions in Texas, finding a law barring adults under the age of 21 from carrying a handgun unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth ruled Thursday that a state law barring most 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying a handgun outside the home violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms and cannot be enforced. He postponed the entry into force of the decision for 30 days.
The decision came in a lawsuit filed last year by a gun rights group and a man and woman who argued they should be able to carry handguns for protection even though they are under 21. They filed the lawsuit five months after Texas lifted one of its last major gun restrictions, allowing people over 21 to carry handguns without a license, background check or training.
Pittman, appointed by President Donald Trump, ruled in favor of the couple and Coalition Inc. on firearms policy based on “the text of the Second Amendment as informed by founding-era history and tradition.”
The decision follows a major expansion of gun rights by the US Supreme Court. After a series of mass shootings, the Supreme Court ruled in June that Americans have the right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.
Cody Wisniewski, an attorney with the Firearms Policy Coalition, said Pittman’s ruling “is a significant victory for the rights of young adults in Texas and demonstrates to the rest of the nation that such bans cannot withstand constitutional challenges based on the story’.
A spokeswoman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican whose office defended the law in court, did not immediately respond to questions, including whether the state would appeal.
The decision comes amid renewed calls in Texas for stricter gun laws after the May massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers with a legally purchased AR-15 rifle.
Although Texas has maintained age restrictions on the sale of handguns, the age limit for purchasing long rifles in the state is 18. Many Uvalde families have joined Democrats and gun control advocates in calling on lawmakers to raise the age to purchase rifles to 21 .
Uvalde’s parents are also expected to call for stricter gun laws at a rally Saturday at the Texas Capitol. Neither Republican Gov. Greg Abbott nor the overwhelming GOP majority in the state legislature have signaled support for new gun measures since Uvalde.
Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa condemned the new court ruling on Friday and called on Abbott to call a special legislative session to pass “meaningful, widely supported gun safety laws.”
Associated Press reporter Paul J. Weber in Austin contributed to this report.
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