Gun Owners of America and 2A Allies Challenge Massachusetts’ Unconstitutional Ban on Firearms for 18- to 20-Year-Olds 

By Michael Hensley

Gun Owners of America and 2A Allies Challenge Massachusetts’ Unconstitutional Ban on Firearms for 18- to 20-Year-Olds 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
February 14, 2025 
Washington, D.C. — Gun Owners of America (GOA), Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), the National Rifle Association (NRA), the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), Gun Owners Action League (GOAL), and Commonwealth Second Amendment (Comm2A), alongside plaintiff Mack Escher, have filed a lawsuit challenging Massachusetts’ unconstitutional restrictions on 18- to 20-year-old adults possessing, purchasing, or carrying semiautomatic firearms and handguns. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, argues that the state’s laws violate the Second and Fourteenth Amendments by infringing upon the constitutional rights of young adults. 
Under H.B. 4885, Massachusetts has enacted a law that completely bans 18-to-20-year-olds from acquiring, possessing, or carrying semiautomatic firearms and handguns, leaving them defenseless and stripping them of their fundamental rights. The plaintiffs argue that this ban has no historical precedent and directly contradicts Supreme Court rulings that affirm the Second Amendment’s protection of firearms for self-defense.  And as the complaint makes clear, historically, 18-year-olds were even required to keep and bear the same sort of common firearms that older citizens owned. 
GOA and its 2A allies are seeking a court order

Source: Gun Owners of America