Florida court strikes down concealed carry ban for adults ages 18 to 20
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A Florida appeals court ruled Wednesday that the state’s concealed carry ban on adults ages 18 to 20 violates the Second Amendment, finding that young adults are entitled to the same constitutional protections as law-abiding adults over 20.
In a general opinion, the court said 18-year-olds can serve in the military and defend the country, but they will face restrictions on exercising the self-defense rights afforded to older adults.
“Persons between the ages of eighteen and 20 may defend the country without restriction, but may exercise their right to self-defense under the Second Amendment only with severe limitations,” Judge Spencer D. Levine wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel of the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal.
“Restricting 18- to 20-year-olds who are members of the same ‘political community’ as other law-abiding adults from their right to self-defense would make the Second Amendment a ‘second-class’ right,” Levine wrote.
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A participant uses a handgun during practice at a shooting range on October 25, 2023 in Pompano Beach, Florida. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg)
The decision comes after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier declined to defend the law earlier this year.
“In another victory for Floridians’ unalienable rights, the 4th DCA agreed with our view that Florida’s law prohibiting adults under 21 from possessing firearms is unconstitutional,” Uthmeier wrote to X.
“We will not seek further review and will work with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to implement the court’s decision,” he wrote.
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A Florida gun law book is displayed at the Top Shottas Guns and Tactical Supply store in Fort Lauderdale on June 29, 2023, before the state’s new law allowing concealed carry without a permit goes into effect July 1. (Tribune News Service via Carline Jean/Sun Sentinel/Getty Images)
The case stemmed from the 2024 arrest of Jaylen Eubanks, who was 18 at the time. Allegedly, police teams arrived at the scene upon the notice of a person carrying a gun, detained Eubanks and found an unholstered firearm in his waistband. He was charged with carrying a concealed firearm and improper display of a firearm.
Eubanks appealed the concealed carry charge, arguing that Florida’s age restriction violated the Second Amendment. The restriction was put into effect after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in 2018, in which 17 people were killed. A trial court rejected Eubanks’ claim, but an appeals court reversed it.
Citing Supreme Court precedent including Heller, Bruen and Rahimi, the court said adults ages 18 to 20 are among the “persons” protected by the Second Amendment and that Florida failed to identify a historical tradition supporting the restriction.
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James Uthmeier speaks at the Conservative National Convention in Washington, DC, on September 3, 2025. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The panel also noted founding-era militia laws that required most 18-year-old men to carry weapons and serve.
“The fact that young adults were required to serve in the militia demonstrates that founding-era lawmakers believed these young people could and should hold guns,” according to the opinion.
The court rejected arguments that concerns about firearm misuse among young adults justified the restriction, saying Florida failed to identify a historical tradition supporting the law and that adults ages 18 to 20 could not be treated like felons or the mentally ill, categories that have historically been subject to firearm restrictions.
“Anyone who reaches the age of 18 can and is encouraged to join the military, for example, to defend our country,” Levine wrote.
“Yet these same law-abiding adults have trouble exercising the Second Amendment rights that other adults have.”
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The court overturned Eubanks’ concealed carry conviction and ordered the case remanded for further proceedings.
