On Thursday, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz promised a political “day of reckoning” for Republicans who dared to oppose his proposed gun control legislation, among other things.
A “day of reckoning” arrived on Friday, but not in the way Walz had hoped.
A state law prohibiting residents between the ages of 18 and 20 from obtaining permits to legally carry handguns in public was overturned by U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Menendez.
Here in Minnesota, we're going to honor the lives lost in the Nashville elementary school shooting by passing commonsense gun violence prevention measures into law – like red flag laws and background checks.
For the safety of our children, Minnesota can and must lead on this. pic.twitter.com/Np7dWNjHOw— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) March 30, 2023
Menendez’s decision was heavily influenced by the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn v. Bruen, which overturned a New York state law with a broad-based ban on carrying handguns. According to Fox News, the Supreme Court ruling placed the burden on states to demonstrate that any gun control law was effective, and “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
In her ruling, Menendez said that “neither the Second Amendment’s text nor other provisions within the Bill of Rights include an age limit.”
She added that “founding-era militia laws lend support to the understanding that ‘the people’ referred to in the Second Amendment includes 18-to-20-year-olds.”
“Nor is the Court persuaded by the Commissioner’s assertion that because certain state militia laws from 1776 through 1825 required parents to provide weapons to their minor children, such minors would have been understood to fall outside of the Second Amendment’s scope,” she wrote.
“Based on a careful review of the record, the court finds that defendants have failed to identify analogous regulations that show a historical tradition in America of depriving 18- 20-year-olds the right to publicly carry a handgun for self-defense,” Menendez wrote.
“As a result, the age requirement prohibiting persons between the ages of 18 and 20 from obtaining such a permit to carry violates the Second Amendment,” she wrote.
Federal Judge Kate Menendez rules Minnesota law barring 18, 19, and 20-year-old people from getting permits to carry is unconstitutional. Her order immediately bars enforcement of the age 21-plus rule for gun permits. This stems from lawsuit by MN Gun Owners Caucus and others. pic.twitter.com/uy07yw8ECI
— John Croman (@JohnCroman) March 31, 2023
The ruling acknowledged the extent to which the Bruen ruling in 2022 altered the legal landscape of gun control court cases.
“If the Court were permitted to consider the value of these goals and how well Minnesota’s age requirement fits the ends to be achieved, the outcome here would likely be different. But whatever the evidence may reveal about the wisdom behind enacting a 21-year-old requirement for publicly carrying a handgun, such analysis belongs to a regime of means-end scrutiny scuttled by Bruen,” she wrote.
“Second Amendment jurisprudence now focuses a lens entirely on the choices made in a very different time, by a very different American people,” she wrote.
According to Fox, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is requesting a stay while the state appeals.
The ruling was described as a “resounding victory for 18-20-year-old adults who wish to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms” by Bryan Stawser, chair of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus.
“This decision should serve as a warning to anti-gun politicians in Minnesota that the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and its allies will not hesitate to take legal actions against unconstitutional infringements on the Second Amendment rights of Minnesotans,” the group’s Senior Vice President and Political Director Rob Doar said.