Justice Department Says Dealer Ban on Handgun Sales to 18–20-Year-Olds Is Unconstitutional as Applied

The Justice Department said Friday that a federal law barring licensed gun dealers from selling handguns to otherwise law‑abiding 18- to 20-year-olds is unconstitutional as applied and cannot be used to criminally prosecute dealers who make those sales.

The shift, announced Sept. 18, marks a significant change in how the federal government will treat one of the main age limits in federal handgun sales law. It does not repeal the statute, but it does mean the department says it cannot constitutionally pursue criminal cases against federally licensed dealers under that provision when the buyer is a law‑abiding adult between 18 and 20.

The department’s position is laid out in a Sept. 17 memorandum from the Office of Legal Counsel, the Justice Department office that provides formal legal advice to the executive branch and typically guides how federal agencies enforce the law. The opinion, signed by Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser, is titled “Application of 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1) and (c)(1) to Young Adults.”

Its central conclusion is direct: “Section 922(b)(1) and (c)(1) of title 18, U.S. Code, is unconstitutional as applied to young adults between eighteen and twenty who seek to purchase handguns.”

Those provisions effectively prohibit licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to people under 21, even though federal law allows licensed sales of rifles and shotguns to people 18 and older. The restriction chiefly affects access through the licensed dealer market, rather than creating a blanket federal prohibition on all possible ways an 18- to 20-year-old might obtain a handgun.

The practical effect could be immediate inside the federal government. Office of Legal Counsel opinions are generally treated as authoritative within the executive branch, so the memorandum is likely to shape how Justice Department prosecutors and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives handle handgun sales by licensed dealers nationwide. Before this opinion, dealers who willfully violated the law risked criminal penalties and possible loss of their federal license.

Gaiser said in the department’s press release that “Eighteen-year-olds may vote, serve on juries, be drafted, and face adult criminal penalties, including capital punishment. The Department of Justice may not constitutionally seek to impose criminal penalties on dealers who sell handguns to law-abiding adults who, in nearly every other relevant respect, are members of the political community.”

The legal reasoning relies on the Supreme Court’s modern Second Amendment cases, including District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in 2022, which requires the government to justify gun regulations by showing they fit the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. The memo also cites Wolford v. Lopez, a 2026 case, in applying that framework.

According to the opinion, adults ages 18 to 20 are part of “the people” protected by the Second Amendment, and the government lacks a sufficient historical tradition to justify this specific handgun dealer-sales restriction for that age group. OLC further concluded that the provisions “may not be enforced to impose criminal penalties on dealers” who sell handguns to those adults.

The issue had already divided federal appeals courts. In Reese v. ATF in 2025, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the federal dealer-sales restriction as applied to 18- to 20-year-olds. But in McCoy v. ATF, also in 2025, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld it.

That split helps explain why the law had remained unsettled even after the Supreme Court’s recent Second Amendment decisions.

The department’s announcement has important limits. The statute remains in federal law, and the Office of Legal Counsel does not bind courts. The opinion also addresses federal enforcement against licensed dealers, not state gun laws. States remain free to enforce their own age restrictions unless courts rule otherwise.

Still, the central practical point is clear: The Justice Department now says it cannot constitutionally use these federal provisions to bring criminal cases against licensed dealers who sell handguns to law-abiding adults ages 18 to 20.