The National Rifle Association lost in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today fighting for the rights of 18 to 20 year-olds to purchase hand guns. Congress passed the mandate in 1968 in order to keep weapons out of the hands the hands of the immature and reckless. The NRA says it infringes on an adults right to bear arms and we know they love their guns,Congress has a difference of opinion. Click below for more info.
A unanimous three-judge panel said Congress, in a law dating from 1968, adopted the sales ban to help curb violent crime. It also said that the nation’s founders and 19th-century courts and commentators believed that disarming specific groups did not trample on the right to bear arms.
“Congress was focused on a particular problem: young persons under 21, who are immature and prone to violence, easily accessing handguns,” mainly from licensed dealers, Judge Edward Prado wrote for the panel.
“The present ban appears consistent with a longstanding tradition of age- and safety-based restrictions on the ability to access arms,” he added.
Thursday’s decision upheld a September 2011 ruling by District Judge Sam Cummings in Lubbock, Texas.
