Brady Denounces DOJ Decision to End Enforcement of Prohibition on Handgun Sales to 18 to 20-Year-Olds

The public safety provision has been in place since 1968 and was a key strategy to preventing juvenile crime and violence.

WASHINGTON, September 18, 2026 — The nation’s oldest gun violence prevention organization is denouncing today’s Department of Justice claim that the nearly 60-year-old federal prohibition on handgun sales to 18-to-20-year-olds violates the U.S. Constitution. 

In a statement, Kris Brown, president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence, called the opinion dangerous and ahistorical, noting that it undermines a longstanding tradition of regulations that restrict firearms to individuals who pose a heightened risk of violence.

The provision prohibiting the sale of handguns to 18-to-20-year-olds has protected public safety for generations. This opinion by the Department of Justice is yet more evidence that the Trump administration is prioritizing the gun industry’s wishlist, rather than protecting American lives. While the DOJ legal opinion does not change the law itself, it merely reflects the erroneous views of the Trump administration. The decision not to enforce the law will make it easier for young adults — a community at higher risk for gun violence — to obtain firearms.

Contrary to what DOJ claims, the Supreme Court indicated in Bruen that laws like the ban on handgun sales to people under 21 are constitutional. These laws are part of a long history in this country of restricting firearms for those who pose a heightened risk for violence.

In 2022, Brady and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence filed an amicus brief in Fraser v. ATF in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia supporting the ban on firearms sales to those under 21 years of age. The brief explains how age-based restrictions are consistent with a historical tradition of firearm restrictions on specific groups of people, and details evidence that supports the law and its effectiveness in reducing gun violence. The full brief is available here. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law in that case, and the Supreme Court declined to take it up.