The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners filed an amicus brief with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court challenging the state’s firearms carry ban by 18–20-year-olds.
The brief was filed in support of the appellant in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Kareem Mohammed Williams Jr., and challenges the state’s prohibition of law-abiding 18-to-20-year-olds carrying firearms for self-defense. SAF joined the National Rifle Association and Firearm Owners Against Crime in the amicus filing.
“Pennsylvania’s ban defies Bruen by denying young adults their Second Amendment rights without any historical tradition of such age-based restrictions at the Founding,” said SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros. “History shows that 18-to-20-year-olds were not only part of ‘the People’ protected by the Second Amendment but were required to keep and bear arms for militia and self-defense purposes. We urge the Court to reverse the lower court ruling and recognize that this subset of adults is afforded the same fundamental right to self-defense as other Americans who are 21 and older.”
The case affects thousands of peaceable adults under 21-years-old in Pennsylvania who are barred from exercising their right to carry arms for protection, despite clear historical evidence such bans lack Founding-era support. SAF is currently challenging the same core issue in Paris v. Second Amendment Foundation, which is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“SAF has made protecting the rights of young adults a priority in a number of cases, and this amicus brief helps further that objective,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “SAF is proud to join the other amicus parties in this effort to ensure that Pennsylvania may not continue to strip law-abiding citizens of their constitutional protections.”
The Second Amendment Foundation (saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the fundamental rights of individuals enshrined in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. SAF engages in aggressive legal action to ensure the principles of armed self-defense, personal liberty, and the ownership of arms are defended, secured, and restored. Through public education initiatives, SAF teaches the importance of the Second Amendment to promote a society that values and exercises the right to keep and bear arms.
