The Justice Department says federal restrictions barring licensed gun dealers from selling handguns to adults ages 18 to 20 violate the Second Amendment and cannot be criminally enforced against dealers making otherwise lawful sales.
DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel released the opinion Friday, marking a major change in the federal government’s position on a restriction that has governed commercial handgun sales for decades. The September 17 opinion concludes that law-abiding adults in that age group are protected by the Second Amendment and that the government lacks sufficient historical support for preventing them from buying handguns from federally licensed dealers.
Federal law generally requires buyers to be at least 21 to purchase a handgun or handgun ammunition from a licensed firearms dealer. Adults ages 18 to 20 can buy rifles and shotguns from licensed dealers, subject to other federal and state restrictions.
In reaching its conclusion, DOJ relied on the Supreme Court’s recent Second Amendment decisions, which require firearm restrictions affecting protected conduct to be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of gun regulation. The department found that adults ages 18 to 20 fall within “the people” protected by the amendment and that handguns are commonly used for lawful purposes, including self-defense.
That left the government’s historical justification for the age restriction as a central issue. The Office of Legal Counsel found no sufficiently similar tradition of barring legal adults under 21 from acquiring firearms.
Founding-era militia laws figured heavily in DOJ’s analysis. Many required men to begin militia service at 18 and, in numerous cases, to provide their own weapons. The department said that history weighs against treating 18- to 20-year-olds as a group that could broadly be prevented from acquiring firearms.
OLC also rejected historical rules governing minors and their ability to enter contracts as adequate support for the modern federal restriction. According to the opinion, those laws differed from the current handgun provisions in the people they covered, the restrictions they imposed and the consequences for violations.
Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser, who leads the Office of Legal Counsel, pointed to the broader legal status of 18-year-olds, noting that they can vote, serve on juries, be drafted and face adult criminal penalties.
DOJ now says federal prosecutors cannot constitutionally seek criminal penalties against licensed dealers solely for selling handguns to otherwise law-abiding adults ages 18 to 20. The conclusion applies to the federal provisions governing sales by licensed dealers rather than every firearm restriction based on age.
Congress’s handgun sales provisions remain part of federal law. Office of Legal Counsel opinions establish the Justice Department’s legal position within the executive branch but do not repeal statutes or bind federal courts deciding constitutional challenges.
Federal appeals courts remain split over whether the restriction is constitutional.
In January 2025, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Reese v. ATF that the provisions violate the Second Amendment, finding that the government failed to identify a historical tradition sufficient to support the federal age limit.
The Fourth Circuit reached a different result in June 2025. In McCoy v. ATF, the appeals court upheld the restriction, relying in part on historical rules governing people under 21 and finding that federal law fit within the nation’s tradition of regulating firearm sales.
DOJ’s new opinion rejects that historical analysis. The department said subsequent Supreme Court decisions, including United States v. Hemani and Wolford v. Lopez, further clarified how courts should compare modern gun restrictions with historical regulations and undermined the reasoning used to uphold the federal age limit.
The Supreme Court declined on June 30 to hear an appeal challenging the Fourth Circuit’s ruling in McCoy. That decision left the lower court judgment in place without resolving the constitutional dispute nationwide.
Other firearm restrictions remain in effect. Federal law continues to restrict handgun possession by people under 18 and firearm possession by people who are prohibited from owning guns for other reasons. States can also impose their own minimum-age requirements governing firearm purchases and possession.
Gun rights groups welcomed DOJ’s position, while gun-control organizations criticized the change and argued that the federal age restriction serves a public safety purpose.
The Justice Department’s opinion changes the federal government’s enforcement position while leaving the statute and conflicting appellate rulings in place, setting up further litigation over the gun rights of adults under 21.
