Tanner Hirschfeld v. ATF
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · No. 19-2250
👍Favorable to gun rights
Panel struck down the federal ban on handgun sales by licensed dealers to 18- to 20-year-olds.
GunMapUSA assessment of the outcome's direction, not a statement that the court decided rightly or wrongly.
What the court held
Two would-be handgun buyers under 21 challenged the federal statutes and regulations barring federally licensed dealers from selling handguns and handgun ammunition to 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds. A divided Fourth Circuit panel held that 18-year-olds hold Second Amendment rights and that the government had not justified the restriction, concluding Congress used disproportionate crime rates to craft over-inclusive laws without establishing licensed dealers as the source of guns used in crime by that age group. The panel held the challenged laws unconstitutional and vacated, reversed, and remanded; one plaintiff's claims were moot because he had turned 21. Judge Wynn dissented, arguing the provisions survive intermediate scrutiny and that courts owe deference to Congress.
Summarized from the court's opinion.
Key Dates
- 2021-07-15 — Decided
Sources
- CourtListener — retrieved 2026-08-08
Summary of public court records. Not legal advice.