18-year-olds in Florida gain full adult gun rights after court decision

A unanimous appeals court decision in Florida found that restricting the gun rights of 18- to 20-year-olds would make the Second Amendment a “second-class” right.

A three-judge panel of Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that adults ages 18 to 20 should have the same Second Amendment rights as those over 20, finding the state’s concealed carry ban for the younger ages to be unconstitutional.

“Eighteen- to 20-year-olds can defend the country without restriction but can only utilize their Second Amendment right to self-defense with severe restrictions,” Judge Spencer D. Levine wrote in the court’s opinion.

“Restricting 18- to 20-year-olds — members of the same ‘political community’ as other law-abiding adults — from rights to self-defense would make the Second Amendment a ‘second-class’ right,” Levine wrote.

(Video: WPEC/YouTube)

“In another win for the unalienable rights of Floridians, the 4th DCA agreed with our position that Florida’s law banning adults under 21 from conceal carrying a firearm is unconstitutional,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a social media post.

“We will not seek further review and will work with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to implement the court’s order,” he wrote.

In another win for the unalienable rights of Floridians, the 4th DCA agreed with our position that Florida’s law banning adults under 21 from conceal carrying a firearm is unconstitutional.

We will not seek further review and will work with @FDACS to implement the court’s order.

— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) June 17, 2026

“That young adults had to serve in the militia indicates that founding-era lawmakers believed those youth could, and indeed should, keep and bear arms,” the court opinion stated.

“All those who reach the age of 18 are able, and encouraged, for example, to join the military to defend our country,” Levine wrote.”Yet those very same law-abiding adults are burdened in their ability to exercise the same Second Amendment rights that other adults have.”

“The case stemmed from the 2024 arrest of Jaylen Eubanks, who was 18 at the time. According to the opinion, officers responding to a report of a person displaying a handgun detained Eubanks and found an unholstered firearm on his waist. He was charged with carrying a concealed firearm and improper exhibition of a firearm,” Fox News reported.

“Eubanks challenged the concealed-carry charge, arguing Florida’s age restriction violated the Second Amendment. The restriction was enacted following the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where 17 people were killed. A trial court rejected Eubanks’ argument, but the appellate court reversed,” the report continued.

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