The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday tossed Minnesota's age-based ban on the carry of firearms by 18 to 20-year-olds. 

The case, Worth v. Jacobson, pitted plaintiffs Kristin Worth, Austin Dye, Axel Anderson, the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, the Second Amendment Foundation, and the Firearms Policy Coalition against Minnesota Commissioner of Public Safety Bob Jacobson and other public officials. Winding its way through the court since 2021, it challenged the catch-22 under Minnesota law that generally bars the carrying of handguns in public for self-defense without first acquiring a permit to carry, while restricting permits to those over the age of 21. 

The plaintiffs argued the de facto ban on carry for adults under that age violated the fundamental human right to bear arms. A three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit agreed in a unanimous opinion. 

"First, the right to keep and bear arms ‘is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The Second Amendment declares that it shall not be infringed,'" said Circuit Judge Duane Benton for the panel. 

"Importantly, the Second Amendment’s plain text does not have an age limit," continued Benton. "Ordinary, law-abiding 18 to 20-year-old Minnesotans are unambiguously members of the people. Because the plain text of the Second Amendment covers the plaintiffs and their conduct, it is presumptively constitutionally protected..."

The plaintiffs welcomed the legal victory. 

"It is one more step in our crusade to win firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time," SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb told Guns.com in a statement. 

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