By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The Second Amendment Foundation and Connecticut Citizens Defense League (CCDL) have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Connecticut’s and federal restrictions on owning and carrying of handguns by young adults in the 18- to 20-year age group.
The two organizations are joined by two Connecticut residents, Zachary Succow and Samuel Towne, both 19, and both members of SAF and CCDL. Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Doug Dubitsky of North Windham, Craig Fishbein of Wallingford and Cameron Atkinson of Harwinton, according to a SAF news release. They are asking for a permanent injunction against state and federal laws which prohibit individuals between 18 years of age and 20 years of age from acquiring handguns and handgun ammunition.
Named as defendants are U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services Ronnell Higgins, Norwich Police Captain Patrick Daley and Seymour Police Chief John Bucherati.
As noted by the CT Insider, “Federal law has limited handgun ownership to people older than 21 since the Gun Control Act was passed in 1968. Bucherati and Daley are named as defendants because, as the lawsuit states, Connecticut law specifies that police must approve the transfer of any gun.”
“This makes 10 lawsuits SAF has filed across the country on behalf of adults in this age group,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “And in each of those lawsuits the premise remains the same – depriving adults who are 18-20 years old of their constitutional rights is illegal, full stop.”
According to SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut, “Second Amendment rights cannot be withheld from peaceable adults based on their age. To do so would relegate the amendment’s guarantees to second-class status, which offends the very notion of the Constitution’s premise. Our nation’s history and tradition does not support this ‘Second Amendment lite’ version being offered to 18-20-year-olds in Connecticut. This lawsuit seeks to vindicate the rights of those individuals who are being unlawfully discriminated against based solely on their age.”
In their 38-page complaint, plaintiffs argue, “Defendants’ laws…and…the related regulations, policies, practices, customs designed to implement the same, and Defendants’ continuing enforcement of them, prevent law-abiding, responsible adult citizens under age twenty-one— including Plaintiffs Succow and Towne, and the similarly situated members of Connecticut Citizens Defense League and the Second Amendment Foundation—from doing so, in violation of the Second and Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
The lawsuit also details something of a “Catch 22” scenario.
“To obtain a State Pistol Permit,” the complaint asserts, “a Connecticut resident 21-years or older must first apply for and be issued a Temporary State Pistol Permit from the issuing authority in the town or city in which they live, submit to fingerprinting and a background check, and provide proof of successfully completing a firearm safety course, including live-fire training and instruction on Connecticut firearms law. Adults under 21 years of age may not lawfully obtain, or even apply for, a Temporary State Pistol Permit.”
The federal prohibition on handgun sales to people under age 21 dates back to the Gun Control Act of 1968.
