Another Brick in the Wall

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Eighteen-year-olds may vote, serve on juries, be drafted, and face adult criminal penalties, including capital punishment. The Constitution protects the people’s right to keep and bear arms. 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.

Elliot Gaiser
Assistant Attorney General
Head of the Office of Legal Counsel
September 18, 2026
DOJ declares federal ban on handgun sales to young adults unconstitutional

I will never get tired of winning. Prove me wrong.

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12 thoughts on “Another Brick in the Wall”

  1. I like winning but the win we really need is one on GFZ. Most of the wins have been about hardware. GFZ are software which is needed to make the hardware work or not in this case. Reciprocity is probably the low hanging fruit here as CA and NYC are basically giant GFZ. But eventually we need a very short list of where GFZ are permissible. I would favor a rule that only allows them when LEOs are included. So inside the cellblock and ?. This works for hardware too.

    • There is a possibility that some GFZs are legitimate. You would be able to identify one by:

      – Whoever imposes it is absorbing a substantial ongoing expense to ensure it is so. Think: The security measures at the perimeter of a prison, courthouse or mental institution. Can’t say airports, though; lots of expense, demonstrable lack of effectiveness. None of this means that expense, by itself, justifies the GFZ; it is necessary, but not sufficient.

      – There is a physical reason why the presence or use of a firearm is dangerous. Think: MRI room; petroleum refinery where a spark could blow the whole place up. That’s really a ban on metal or flame, so arms that don’t have those qualities would be fine.

      Outside of that, the modern examples of GFZs are really insincere promises of future investigation, arrest, prosecution and penalty for dangerous persons with sincere present threats to nondangerous persons.

      • OK, I am good with MRI rooms. Don’t know enough about refineries to say one way or the other but someone does. But most of the GFZ are absurd.

        • I think any place where random holes in the wrong thing could cause widespread injury or death are good candidates. Petroleum refineries, cryogenic plants, chemical plants in general, nuclear reactor control rooms, that sort of place.

          Some Federal facilities would also qualify, e.g. the ones where nuclear weapons are assembled, but the vast majority of federal and state government buildings wouldn’t qualify.

      • There are political reasons for GFZs and there are technical reasons for GFZs – I understand SOME of the technical ones, but disagree with ALL political ones.

        Some states require that a GFZ offer secure storage for weapons; I can accept that IF they have security to make sure everybody actually is disarmed AND the secured area is as small as feasible.
        At my local courthouse, the only security is on one courtroom (which I’ve never seen used). The rest of the building is come and go as you want.

        Some courthouses have lockers at the entrance for securing weapons.

      • Then bronze firearms. Cannon were made of bronze in the age of sail because they would not spark when struck like flint and steel.

        • There was a safety advantage but it had to do with the way they failed under pressure. Bulging or splitting vs exploding. Once cannons could be made of steel instead of iron, the advantage mostly evaporated.

  2. There are one or more lawsuits in progress on reciprocity. I think it was out of state permits in Massachusetts, but I’m not sure. It is taking a very long time, but we are making unprecedented progress. I think we will get close to the original intent… eventually.

  3. Governor Kathy Hochul
    Not in New York. No teenager should be able to walk into a gun store and buy a handgun.
    Our laws don’t allow it and that’s not changing.

    • That is direct violation of both the NY state and federal constitutions.
      It WILL end whether you want it to or not.
      Federal court decisions can and do change state laws all the time.

      P.S. Does New York state have police officers or armed security who are under 21? If so they are hypocrites on this subject.

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