A federal appeals court is allowing a Colorado law to take effect that limits gun sales to people over the age of 21.
The policy, which was passed by Democratic lawmakers in 2023, was blocked by a federal district court judge on the same day it was set to take effect last August.
In that order, the judge wrote that the new state law “likely causes a violation of the Individual Plaintiffs’ individual constitutional rights,” resulting in “irreparable injury.” The judge then put the policy on hold while the case played out.
A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, however, disagreed with that conclusion Tuesday.
In the majority ruling, Judge Richard E.N. Federico noted that all 50 states have set a minimum age for gun ownership, and that in at least 20 of them, that age is 21.
“It seems evident that the necessity of some minimum age requirement is widely accepted – after all, no one is reasonably arguing that 8-year-olds should be allowed to purchase guns,” Federico wrote.
He also noted that in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Bruen ruling, which rewrote the rules for gun laws, Justice Samuel Alito specifically noted that the decision “does not expand the categories of people who may lawfully possess a gun” before citing federal age limits.
The plaintiff in the case, Adrian Pineda, had argued that as a constitutional right, gun ownership should become available to people when they become legal adults, but Federico rejected that logic.
“Equally misguided is the belief that the age at which most states currently set the age of majority (i.e., the point at which one is no longer considered a minor) is the only appropriate minimum firearm purchase age. Indeed, at the Founding most states set the age of majority at 21,” he wrote.
In the district court case, lawyers for the state presented expert testimony showing that people’s brains continue maturing in the later teen years, especially the brain centers involved in impulse control, decision making and risk perception. They also argued that raising the age for gun ownership helps ensure that buyers are law-abiding and responsible.
Judge Michael R. Murphy signed on to Federico’s ruling. The panel’s third judge, Carolyn B. McHugh concurred with the overall ruling, but offered her own reasoning for reaching it.
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, the group organizing the challenge to the law, vowed to appeal Tuesday’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, in a statement on the social media site X.
“The judges refused to properly apply Bruen's text, history, and tradition standard, and instead recharacterized this law into a mere commercial regulation instead of a constitutional right infringement,” wrote the group. “This is a very temporary setback, and we look forward to fighting back against this outrageous ruling.”
