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Abstract

This Article examines the Second Amendment rights of young adults, ages 18 to 20. It begins with what the Supreme Court has said about the Second Amendment rights of such persons. Parts II and III survey colonial and founding-era sources. These show that the typical age for mandatory militia duty was 16 or 18 years of age. Many other people, who were not in the active militia, were also required to keep arms at home. The colonial and early state statutes required possession not only of firearms, but also edged weapons, and tools for manufacturing ammunition, cleaning guns, and repairing guns.

Part IV surveys federal laws regarding the ages for arms possession from 1792 until the present. Part V covers nineteenth and early twentieth century state statutes and laws, and also examines the use of history five leading post-Heller federal circuit court cases on age limits for exercising Second Amendment rights. Finally, Part VI describes present-day state laws that limit firearms acquisition or possession by young adults. These laws are considered in the context of age past and present age limits for other activities, such as voting, marriage, and vices. The article finds that there is some historical precedent for extra regulation for handgun acquisition by young adults, and very little for extra restrictions on long gun acquisition. Under Heller, extra regulations for young adults may be permissible, but prohibitions or quasi-prohibitions are not. The Second Amendment rights of young adults include a core right affirmed in Heller: acquiring and keeping a handgun in the home for lawful self-defense.

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