Published July 23, 2026 at 6:00 PM ET · Updated July 25, 2026 at 2:09 PM ET
Firearms Policy Coalition sues Louisiana over its under-21 carry permit ban
2 independent outlets are covering this story. Verification: Corroborated — reported by at least two independent outlets. Patriot Watch links to original reporting; we don't republish it.
The Firearms Policy Coalition sued Louisiana over its ban on carry permits for individuals under 21. Louisiana allows 18-year-olds to carry guns but denies them permits.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 1 d ago, when The Truth About Guns reported it. Coverage has since grown to 2 independent outlets. The most recent report came 6 hr ago from The Truth About Guns. Verification tier: Corroborated — reported by at least two independent outlets.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Under Bruen, the question is whether Louisiana can show a historical tradition of denying carry permits to 18-to-20-year-olds. Heller noted that longstanding prohibitions like those on felons and the mentally ill remain presumptively lawful, but age-based limits were not among those the Court identified. So Louisiana must produce the historical evidence Bruen demands; without it, the under-21 ban fails.
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Kevin P. Bruen, Superintendent of New York State Police 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Thomas
New York's requirement that applicants demonstrate 'proper cause' — a special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community — to obtain an unrestricted public-carry license violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public. The Court held the Second Amendment protects a right to carry handguns publicly for self-defense, and rejected the two-step means-end framework lower courts had applied after Heller.
District of Columbia v. Heller 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Scalia
The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use it for traditionally lawful purposes such as self-defense within the home. The right is not unlimited: the Court noted that longstanding prohibitions (e.g., possession by felons and the mentally ill, carrying in sensitive places, conditions on commercial sale) remain presumptively lawful. D.C.'s ban on handgun possession in the home and its requirement that lawful firearms in the home be kept nonfunctional violate the Second Amendment.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
