
BELLEVUE, Wash. — Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation and its partners in a case challenging the State of Minnesota’s prohibition on licensed concealed carry by young adults ages 18-20 have filed a response brief with the U.S. Supreme Court encouraging the justices to “grant plenary review and set the case for argument.”
The case is known as Jacobson v. Worth, initially filed in June 2021 as Worth v. Harrington.
Background on Jacobson v. Worth
Jacobson v. Worth is a legal challenge to Minnesota’s law that prohibits 18-to-20-year-olds from carrying handguns in public. The case was brought by several plaintiffs, including individual young adults and gun rights organizations, who argue that the law violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
At the heart of the lawsuit is the argument that law-abiding adults aged 18 to 20 have the same constitutional right to bear arms as older adults. The plaintiffs highlight historical evidence showing that young adults were expected to keep and bear arms during the Founding Era, including mandatory militia service.
The case was initially decided in favor of the plaintiffs by a district court, which ruled that Minnesota’s age restriction was unconstitutional under the framework established in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen. The state of Minnesota then appealed, and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s ruling, concluding that there was no historical precedent supporting the age-based restriction.
The case has now reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where Minnesota officials are seeking a reversal of the lower court decisions. The state argues that the restriction aligns with historical firearm regulations and is necessary for public safety. However, the plaintiffs maintain that the law unjustly denies a fundamental right to a specific group of law-abiding adults.
The Supreme Court’s decision in this case could have broad implications for age-based gun restrictions nationwide.
SAF is joined by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, Firearms Policy Coalition, and three private citizens: Kristin Worth, for whom the case is named, Austin Dye, and Axel Anderson. While all three have turned 21, the Eighth Circuit Court granted a motion to supplement the record and allow another individual, Joe Knudsen, to carry the complaint. They are represented by attorneys David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson, John D. Ohlendorf, and William V. Bergstrom at Cooper & Kirk in Washington, D.C.
Second Amendment Foundation won this case at trial and at the appeals court level. Minnesota is appealing the ruling.
“Today’s filing is unique in that we are agreeing with Minnesota’s request in asking the Supreme Court to hear our case to resolve a dispute between the circuits,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “The lower courts are not unanimous in their approach to the Second Amendment rights of 18-20-year-olds. It is important that the Court weigh in to confirm that 18-20-year-olds are part of ‘the People’ and the Second Amendment applies in full to those individuals. The ban Minnesota seeks to uphold eviscerates the right of those adults to be able to carry a firearm for self-defense. This is patently unconstitutional and while we prevailed at the court of appeals, the Supreme Court needs to ensure all the lower courts reach the proper result. By taking this case, they can do just that.”
“A clear majority of federal courts have already protected the Second Amendment rights of young adults,” added SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “As we note in our brief, we are not aware of any evidence of colonial or Founding-era laws restricting 18-to-20-year-olds from their right to keep and bear arms. Indeed, history is full of evidence that people in this age group were not prevented from keeping or carrying their own arms.”
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Second Amendment Foundation
The Second Amendment Foundation (saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the fundamental rights of individuals enshrined in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. SAF engages in aggressive legal action to ensure the principles of armed self-defense, personal liberty, and the ownership of arms are defended, secured, and restored. Through public education initiatives, SAF teaches the importance of the Second Amendment to promote a society that values and exercises the right to keep and bear arms.
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