Justice Federico of the Tenth Circuit of Appeal overturned a lower-court injunction on Tuesday against a Colorado law that raises the minimum age for purchasing a gun from 18 to 21, concluding that the restriction aligns with common law standards for possible limitations to the Second Amendment.
The case was initiated by the Second Amendment advocacy group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMG) and two individual plaintiffs, Tate Mosgrove and Adrian Pineda, both aged 18 to 20, who wished to purchase firearms in defiance of the Colorado law. They argued that the law’s age restriction infringed on their Second Amendment right to bear arms. In the initial ruling, Justice Brimmer held that the four criteria for an injunction were satisfied: there was a risk of irreparable harm, the law could provide a remedy, the plaintiffs faced greater harm than the state, and a permanent injunction would not harm the public interest. The judge found that the right to keep and bear arms was implicated and that the state had not sufficiently demonstrated a historical precedent of restricting gun ownership for citizens under 21.
On appeal, Justice Federico concluded that there is a longstanding history of regulating firearm sales in the interest of public safety, including restrictions for those with mental illnesses, young people, and convicted criminals, consistent with the nation’s “history of firearm regulation.” Justice Federico further noted that limiting the rights of young people, particularly regarding weapons, is well established in common law, and thus found no constitutional issue with setting the minimum age at 21 rather than 18. Given the reasonability and constitutionality of the restriction, the judge also held that there was no “irreparable harm” as required for an injunction, nor any concern for public interest.
The bill in question, SB23-169, requires that all transfers and sales of firearms only take place between parties over the age of 18, with exceptions in place for police officers and armed forces servicemen. In assessing whether a restriction on Second Amendment rights can be constitutionally, the decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen suggests looking to whether the restriction aligns with the nation’s historical practices of firearm regulation. In the case at hand, Justice Federico found that the long history history of regulating both the age of firearm carriers and the rights of 18-year-olds more broadly supports SB23-169 as consistent with America’s established framework of firearm regulation.
