\u201cRestricting 18- to 20-year-olds \u2014 members of the same \u2018political community\u2019 as other law-abiding adults \u2014 from rights to self-defense would make the Second Amendment a \u2018second-class\u2019 right,\u201d Judge Spencer D. Levine of the Fourth District Court of Appeals wrote.<\/p>\n
Levine was joined in the decision by Chief Judge Jeffrey T. Kuntz and Judge Shannon K. Shaw.<\/p>\n
The case stems from the 2024 arrest of Jaylen Eubanks, who was 18 at the time, for improper exhibition of a firearm and carrying a concealed firearm. Eubanks attempted to dismiss the concealed carry charge, but the trial court ruled the age restrictions \u2014 passed by the Florida Legislature in 2023 in the wake of the Parkland mass school shooting \u2014 were constitutional.<\/p>\n
Eubanks pled no contest to the charges and reserved the right to appeal.<\/p>\n
In February, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier declined to defend the law. In response, the Broward County State Attorney\u2019s Office asked the appellate court to allow an amicus brief to argue for upholding the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the impact of gun crimes in the state of Florida \u2014 including the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in our community, which resulted in the tragic murders of 17 children and adults and severe injuries to 17 individuals who survived \u2014 we respectfully disagree with the position taken by the Office of the Attorney General,\u201d Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said in a statement at the time.<\/p>\n
The appellate decision cited a handful of U.S. Supreme Court and federal court decisions, including the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen and a 2024 federal appeals court decision that struck down Minnesota\u2019s age restrictions<\/a> on concealed carry.<\/p>\n \u201cEighteen- to 20-year-olds can defend the country without restriction but can only utilize their Second Amendment right to self-defense with severe restrictions,\u201d wrote Levine. \u201cThis burden on law-abiding 18- to 20-year-olds\u2019 right to public carry \u2014 and specifically here concealed carry \u2014 which is not applicable to any other adults, is a burden that is facially unconstitutional as to 18- to 20-year-olds.\u201d<\/p>\n Thomas Cottone, the public defender for Eubanks, said the ruling was \u201ceven better than I had hoped.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis will help in other motions I will file in other gun-related cases,\u201d said Cottone, now in private practice. \u201cThere is some language in this order that will help with that.\u201d<\/p>\n In particular, Cottone said he is working on the constitutional defense of convictions of firearm possession by a felon in which the underlying charge is nonviolent.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s attorney general also praised the court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n \u201cIn another win for the unalienable rights of Floridians, the 4th DCA agreed with our position that Florida\u2019s law banning adults under 21 from conceal carrying a firearm is unconstitutional,\u201d Uthmeier\u00a0wrote on X. \u201cWe will not seek further review and will work with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to implement the court\u2019s order.\u201d<\/p>\n Since his appointment in 2025, Uthmeier has sought to undermine gun laws previously championed by the state.<\/p>\n He spoke out against the state\u2019s decades-old ban on the open carry of firearms until an appeals court struck down<\/a> the law last year. The attorney general also came to a judgment agreement on a lawsuit brought by the National Rifle Association over the state\u2019s three-day mandatory waiting period and sued the city of Jacksonville this year over a municipal registry of privately owned firearms.<\/p>\n