On December 23, 2024, the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and National Rifle Association (NRA) filed an amended complaint in Young v. Ott, a federal lawsuit that challenges Pennsylvania’s laws banning 18- to 20-year-old adults from carrying firearms for lawful purposes outside the home.
The amended complaint included a motion for preliminary injunction or summary judgment in the case.
“The harm here is irreparable: Plaintiffs and all similarly situated, law-abiding 18-to-20-year-olds are broadly restricted from exercising their fundamental right to carry firearms for self-defense and other lawful purposes in Pennsylvania,” the motion argues.
“In case after case, courts have agreed with us and held that bans on carry by adults under 21 years of age violate the constitutionally protected right to bear arms,” said FPC President Brandon Combs.
Pennsylvania generally requires an individual to obtain a license to carry a concealed firearm or transport a firearm in one’s vehicle, an NRA statement said. Moreover, a license is required to be exempt from the “Gun-Free School Zones Act,” which forbids carrying within 1,000 feet of the grounds of a school—more than 3,000 of which exist throughout the Commonwealth. Adults under 21, however, are ineligible to apply for a license.
The Third Circuit has already held that “the people” covered by the Second Amendment “presumptively encompasses all adult Americans, including 18-to-20-year-olds.” And in the NRA’s 2022 NYSRPA v. Bruen case, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects the public carry of firearms. Therefore, NRA and FPC argue, Pennsylvania’s concealed-carry licensing scheme violates the Second Amendment by preventing adults under 21 from exercising the full scope of the right to bear arms.
The case, named Young v. Ott, was filed in the federal District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
The plaintiffs are two individual prospective gun owners, Hannah Young and Ariana Palmaccio, along with the Firearms Policy Coalition and National Rifle Association. Counsel for the gun owners and groups are David Sigale, David Thompson, Peter Patterson, and William Bergstrom.
Being sued are various agency and law enforcement defendants, including Blair County Sheriff James Ott, Luzerne County Sheriff Brian Szumski, and Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris.
