The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed Pennsylvania to continue enforcing its law that restricts gun possession for individuals under 21. This development comes after the court sent a challenge to the law back to the lower courts for reconsideration in light of their decision in United States v. Rahimi. According to SCOTUSblog, the Supreme Court did not add new cases to its docket for the term and instead focused on this issue.
The case, Paris v. Lara, involved a Pennsylvania state law barring 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying guns during a state of emergency. In June 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit prevented Pennsylvania from enforcing this law, arguing that the Second Amendment includes all Americans and there is no historical precedent for disarming this age group. However, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Michelle Henry, contended that the recent Rahimi decision—which maintained a federal law disallowing gun possession by individuals under domestic-violence restraining orders—abrogated the Third Circuit’s assessment.
Chief Justice John Roberts had emphasized in Rahimi that modern regulations might not need to exactly mirror historical laws to remain constitutionally valid, a point used by Henry to justify reconsideration of the Pennsylvania case. Consequently, the Supreme Court agreed and remanded the case for further review.
As noted in the case details and proceedings available here, this judicial step illustrates the continuing complexity of Second Amendment jurisprudence as courts grapple with balancing contemporary public safety concerns against historical legal frameworks.