NRA loses concealed carry appeal in 5th Circuit Court of Appeals

NEW ORLEANS –  The National Rifle Association and three individuals lost an appeal in a case centering on the right of 18-20-year-olds to procure a concealed handgun license.

The NRA of America Inc., Rebekah Jennings, Brennan Harmon and Andrew Payne first sued Steven C. McCraw, Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety in a Texas district court. At the time of the original suit, all the plaintiffs were between the ages of 18-20 and alleged that they wanted to carry a concealed weapon in public for self-defense purposes but were unable to get a license because they were under the age of 21. The suit claimed violation of the individuals’  second amendment rights.

A panel of judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,  consisting of Circuit Judges Patrick E. Higginbotham, Edith Brown Clement and Catharina Haynes, found that the Texas law neither violates the Second Amendment or the Equal Protection Clause.

Circuit Judge Clement, writing on behalf of the panel, noted that the Second Amendment does not not confer unlimited gun rights.

The court also found that because two of the individuals have turned 21 in the course of the litigation, their claims should be dismissed as moot. It reversed in part the district court’s dismissal, finding that the remaining plaintiffs have standing to challenge the Texas law, but upheld the dismissal of their claims.

Case No. 12-10091.