A panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled 2-1 to forbid the state police from arresting law-abiding 18- to 20-year-olds for openly carrying firearms during a declared state of emergency.
The case is known as Madison Lara v. Commissioner Pennsylvania State Police. It was decided in January 2025. Three private citizens, Madison M. Lara (for whom the case is named), Sophia Knepley, and Logan D. Miller, appealed the case, along with the Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition.
As is often the case, Lara has a convoluted history. Background from the decision:
“Through the combined operation of three statutes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania effectively bans 18-to-20-year-olds from carrying firearms outside their homes during a state of emergency. Madison Lara, Sophia Knepley, and Logan Miller, who were in that age range when they filed this suit, wanted to carry firearms outside their homes for lawful purposes, including self-defense. Relying on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, they, along with two gun rights organizations, sued the Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police (the “Commissioner”) to stop enforcement of the statutes, but the District Court ruled against them.
“They appealed the District Court’s order denying them preliminary injunctive relief and dismissing their case. In January 2024, we reversed and remanded for the District Court to enjoin the Commissioner from arresting 18-to-20-year-olds who violated the statutes… The Commissioner petitioned the Supreme Court for certiorari review. In the meantime, the Supreme Court decided United States v. Rahimi, which upheld the constitutionality of a federal firearms regulation. The Supreme Court then granted the Commissioner’s petition in this matter, summarily vacated our judgment, and remanded the case to us for further consideration in light of Rahimi… We conclude that our prior analysis reflects the approach taken in Bruen and clarified in Rahimi.” The circuit court then ordered the district court to enter an injunction in young adults’ favor.
Writing for the majority, Circuit Judge Kent A. Jordan, a George W. Bush appointee, noted, “It is undisputed that 18-to-20-year-olds are among ‘the people’ for other constitutional rights such as the right to vote, freedom of speech, the freedom to peaceably assemble and to petition the and the right against unreasonable searches and seizures. We therefore reiterate our holding that 18-to-20-year-olds are, like other subsets of the American public, presumptively among ‘the people’ to whom Second Amendment rights extend.”
Judge Jordan was joined by Judge D. Brooks Smith, another Bush appointee. Judge L. Felipe Restrepo, a Barack Obama appointee, dissented.
“SAF has maintained all along that 18-20 year olds are unquestionably part of ‘the people’ contemplated by the Second Amendment who have the same rights to keep and bear that any other adult has,” said SAF Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. “The Third Circuit already agreed with us once, and today it reaffirmed its decision, finding that the Rahimi decision from the Supreme Court changes precisely nothing.”
“The Third Circuit’s decision is an important development in our ongoing efforts to eliminate age-based gun bans nationwide. And while we are delighted with the outcome here, we are already back at work in this and dozens of other cases. There has never been a more important time to fight forward and work towards total mission achievement,” said FPC President Brandon Combs.
“There is no language in the Second Amendment that applies only to some age-exclusive subset of the people,” SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb observed. “We’re delighted the Third Circuit once again has ruled in our favor, and we will continue defending that position.”
The young gun owners are represented by attorneys Peter Patterson, Haley N. Proctor, David H. Thompson and John D. Ohlendorf at Cooper & Kirk in Washington, D.C. and Joshua Prince at Civil Rights Defense Firm, P.C., in Bechtelsville, Pa.
