Texas will no longer fight to ban 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying handguns in public. A judge ruled earlier this year that a state law banning the practice was unconstitutional, and Texas initially filed a notice that it would appeal. But Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw withdrew the appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittmanโs ruling was the first major decision about Texas gun laws since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Second Amendment protected individuals who carry weapons for self-defense.
In September, the state filed a notice of appeal, which angered gun rights activists.
โOnce again, government officials in the state of Texas are proven to be anti-gun stooges,โ Dudley Brown, the president of the National Association for Gun Rights, said in a news release at the time.
Neither the notice of appeal nor the withdrawal listed legal arguments or reasons for doing so; DPS and the Texas attorney generalโs office could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Firearms Policy Coalition, which, along with two teenagers, brought the suit against the state, released a statement celebrating the latest development.
โWe applaud Texas for doing the right thing and accepting the district courtโs ruling against its law prohibiting 18-to-20-year-old adults from carrying firearms in public,โ said Cody J. Wisniewski, FPCโs senior attorney for constitutional litigation, adding, โYoung adults have the same constitutionally protected right to bear arms as all other adults.โ
The Supreme Courtโs June decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen has causedย a wave of gun control lawsย in various states toย be challenged or struck down. In November, U.S. District Judge David Counts ruled thatย banning someone under a protective order from possessing a gun violated their Second Amendment rights, citing the Supreme Courtโs ruling.
โThe court said that the way that youโve got to decide the constitutionality of modern-day gun laws โฆ is not by looking at modern policy considerations, but rather looking at historical laws and trying to analogize specific legal traditions from a very different time and place,โ Eric Ruben, an assistant professor of law at the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, told The Texas Tribune last month.
โBased on the Second Amendmentโs text, as informed by Founding-Era history and tradition, the Court concludes that the Second Amendment protects againstโ prohibiting young adults from carrying handguns, Pittman wrote inย his August decision.
โThroughout American history, states have prohibited the public carrying of weapons in order to ensure public safety,โ David Cole, the American Civil Liberties Unionโs legal director, said after the Supreme Court decision in June. โAs mass shootings inflict incalculable misery and pain, the Supreme Court majority has radically undermined statesโ ability to maintain safety.โ
This article was written by ROXANNA ASGARIANย ofย The Texas Tribune. ย The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans โ and engages with them โ about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. ย This article originally appeared at: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/12/21/texas-handguns-unconstitutional-public-carry/