Attorney General Ellison asks full Eighth Circuit to review decision allowing 18-year-olds to obtain open-carry gun permits

Petitions 8th Circuit Court of Appeals for review by full court of three-judge panel decision ruling that 18- to 20-year-olds may obtain permits to open carry pistols in Minnesota, contrary to longstanding Minnesota law and historical tradition

Argues panel decision failed to consider Supreme Court guidance in recent opinion that upheld a federal law criminalizing firearms possession by domestic abusers

July 30, 2024 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today filed a petition for rehearing with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the full court to review a July 16, 2024 decision of a three-judge panel of the court that struck down Minnesota’s ban on issuing public carry permits to those younger than 21 as unconstitutional. In the petition asking for en banc review — meaning review by all the judges of the 8th Circuit, rather than the three-judge panel that issued this month’s decision — Attorney General Ellison argues that the panel failed to consider the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 21, 2024 decision in United States vs. Rahimi, which upheld the constitutionality of a federal law criminalizing firearms possession by domestic abusers. Rahimi clarified the proper method of analysis for Second Amendment challenges. The panel issued its decision without allowing the parties to further brief the court on the impact of Rahimi on the current case, known as Worth.

Minnesota’s statute restricting permits to carry a pistol in public to people 21 years of age and older is more than 20 years old. Thirty states and the District of Columbia have similar laws. The 8th Circuit is the first federal appeals circuit in the country to invalidate a state law limiting permits to carry to people 21 and above.

“I believe the court erred earlier this month in ruling that the Second Amendment requires Minnesota to allow open carry by youth as young as 18,” Attorney General Ellison said. “Respectfully, I believe the court reached the wrong conclusion on the facts and the history, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s recent, common-sense decision to uphold a federal law criminalizing gun possession by domestic abusers and the guidance the court offered in that decision for evaluating challenges like these.

“The public safety benefits to banning open carry by people under 21 years of age are clear. As long as I am your Attorney General, Minnesota will defend lifesaving, common-sense, gun-safety laws. Today, I am taking the next logical step in attempting to reverse the panel’s decision by asking the full 8th Circuit to review it,” Attorney General Ellison concluded.

History of Worth case

On June 7, 2021, two national Second Amendment-advocacy groups, one Minnesota-based advocacy group, and three individuals sued the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and three County Sheriffs in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. The plaintiffs sought to enjoin Minnesota’s permit-to-carry statute, claiming it violated the Second Amendment rights of 18- to 20-year-olds because permit applicants must be at least 21 years old before they can obtain a permit to carry a gun in public. After discovery, all parties moved for summary judgment.

On March 31, 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Katherine M. Menendez granted plaintiffs’ summary judgment in part. The district court held that Minnesota’s statute violated the Second Amendment rights of 18- to 20-year-olds. The District Court initially blocked enforcement of the law against otherwise qualified Minnesotans ages 18 to 20. But on April 23, 2023, the district court stayed the injunction “for the duration of the appellate process.”

On May 17, 2023, the State appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. While the appeal was pending, the individual plaintiffs—including plaintiff Kristin Worth — all reached the age of 21. The organizational plaintiffs sought to supplement the record with a sworn statement from a new plaintiff under the age of 21. The State moved to dismiss the appeal, arguing the case was moot.

On July 16, 2024, a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s injunction, allowed plaintiffs to supplement the record, and denied the State’s motion to dismiss. The panel held that the State did not proffer sufficient evidence of historical laws restricting people under 21 from carrying handguns in public to rebut the presumption that such conduct is protected under the Second Amendment.  As a result, the panel concluded that the age restriction in Minnesota’s permit-to-carry statute was unconstitutional.