Reese v. Bureau of Alcohol

What the court held

Adults aged eighteen to twenty and several gun-rights organizations challenged 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(b)(1) and (c)(1), which bar federally licensed dealers from selling handguns to anyone under twenty-one. The Fifth Circuit held that eighteen-to-twenty-year-olds are among "the people" covered by the Second Amendment's text and that the government's historical evidence, drawn largely from state laws enacted between 1856 and 1897, came too late to outweigh founding-era practice. It held the provisions and their implementing regulations unconstitutional, reversed the district court, and remanded.

Summarized from the court's opinion.

What this case is about

federal prohibition on the sale of handguns by licensed dealers to 18-to-20-year-olds

GunMapUSA summary of the issue, not a quotation from the court.

Key Dates

• 2025-01-30 — Decided
• 2024-09-23 — Argued

Sources

• CourtListener — retrieved 2026-08-08