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71 Stan. L. Rev. Online 1 (2018-2019)

handle is hein.journals/slro71 and id is 1 raw text is: ESSAY Defending an Under-21 Firearm Ban Under the Second Amendment Two Step Amit Vora` Introduction In the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, more lawmakers may be willing to concede that 18-to-20-year-olds are ill suited to keep and bear firearms. Under current federal law, an 18-to-20-year-old may purchase a long gun from a federally licensed or unlicensed dealer, may purchase a handgun from an unlicensed dealer, and may possess a handgun or a long gun.' Some states have ventured beyond the federal floor, barring 18-to-20-year-olds from purchasing or possessing any firearm, short or long.2 In large measure, though, a 19-year-old in the United States-such as the perpetrator of the Parkland tragedy-may lawfully purchase and possess an AR-15 rifle. Any proposed legislation to implement an absolute, under-21 ban on firearm purchasing and possession will be met with vehement resistance. The Second Amendment guarantee, the National Rifle Association (NRA) will say, vests at 18, and prohibiting 18-to-20-year-olds from purchasing or possessing firearms impermissibly impinges on-indeed, snuffs out-their individual rights. Yet the constitutional basis to counter the NRA's inevitable Second Amendment challenge is readily available. It can be gleaned from a trilogy of settled circuit precedents: Rene E.3 from the First Circuit; BATFE4 from the Fifth; and Horsley5 from the Seventh. Although no absolute, under-21 firearm ban was at issue in those decisions, an advocate for such a ban should avail herself of the premises underlying their holdings. The decisions present Supervising Attorney & Fellow, Georgetown Law Appellate Courts Immersion Clinic. The author is grateful to Brian Wolfman, Natasha Babazadeh, Wyatt Sassman, and the editors of the Stanford Law Review Online for their thoughtful comments. 1. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1), (c)(1), (x)(1), (x)(5) (2016). 2. See Minimum Age to Purchase & Possess, GIFFORDs L. CTR. TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE, https://perma.cc/V93P-AWLZ (archived Apr. 21, 2018) (summarizing state legislation). 3. United States v. Rene E., 583 F.3d 8 (1st Cir. 2009). 4. Nat'l Rifle Ass'n of Am. v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives (BATFE), 700 F.3d 185 (5th Cir. 2012). 5. Horsley v. Trame, 808 F.3d 1126 (7th Cir. 2015). 1

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