## Facts

- Federal law barred federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) from selling or delivering handguns and handgun ammunition to persons the dealer knew or had reasonable cause to believe were under 21.
- Related federal provisions restricted certain mail-order or out-of-state handgun purchases by persons under 21, and ATF regulations implemented these limits.
- The National Rifle Association and individual plaintiffs aged 18–20, who were law-abiding and sought to buy handguns from FFLs, challenged the provisions as violating the Second Amendment and the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection component.
- Congress enacted the age-based sales limits based on evidence that 18–20-year-olds committed violent crimes at disproportionately high rates and commonly obtained handguns through FFLs.
- The challenged provisions did not criminalize handgun possession by 18–20-year-olds and did not bar acquisition through other lawful means such as gifts, parents, or private (non-FFL) sales.
- The district court entered judgment for the government; plaintiffs appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether federal restrictions preventing 18–20-year-olds from purchasing handguns from FFLs violate the Second Amendment.
2. Whether the age-based restrictions on commercial handgun sales violate equal protection principles incorporated through the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit held the plaintiffs had standing; the individual plaintiffs were directly barred from purchasing handguns from FFLs, and the NRA had associational standing.
- Assuming without deciding that the restrictions implicated Second Amendment conduct, the court applied intermediate scrutiny because the law regulated a commercial sales channel rather than banning possession or use.
- The court upheld the provisions under intermediate scrutiny, finding an important governmental objective (reducing handgun violence by young adults) and a substantial relationship between that objective and limiting under-21 access to handguns from FFLs.
- The court applied rational basis review to the equal protection claim because age is not a suspect or quasi-suspect classification, and upheld the provisions as rationally related to reducing handgun-related crime.
- The court affirmed the district court’s judgment for the government.

## Legal Principles

- Second Amendment challenges in the Fifth Circuit followed a two-step approach: (1) assess whether the regulated conduct falls within the Amendment’s historical scope; (2) if it does, apply an appropriate level of scrutiny based on the burden and the conduct regulated.
- Intermediate scrutiny may apply where a firearms regulation does not eliminate the ability of law-abiding citizens to possess arms for self-defense but instead limits a specific method or channel of acquisition.
- Under intermediate scrutiny, the government must show an important objective and that the law is substantially related to achieving it; legislative findings and record evidence may support that fit.
- Age-based classifications ordinarily receive rational basis review under equal protection principles; such classifications are upheld if rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit upheld federal provisions that bar FFL handgun sales to persons under 21, concluding the limits are substantially related to reducing handgun violence by young adults and that the age classification is rationally justified, while leaving other lawful avenues for handgun acquisition and possession available to 18–20-year-olds.


National Rifle Ass’n of Am., Inc. v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, 700 F.3d 185 (5th Cir. 2012)