Judge orders Minnesota sheriffs to hold off on gun permits for 18-to-20-year-olds
A federal ruling that made gun carry permits accessible to 18-to-20-year-olds in Minnesota is on hold for at least a month and potentially longer.
U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Menendez sided Monday with state lawyers who sought to hold off on permits until a likely appeal is settled. The Department of Public Safety and some county sheriffs are fighting an earlier Menendez ruling that the age restriction on concealed carry permits is unconstitutional.
Attorney General Keith Ellison, a DFLer, has said he would appeal the March ruling that determined the age limit to be a violation of the Second Amendment. Minnesota law has restricted the permits to adults 21 and older who met other qualification standards.
In her latest order, the judge wrote that requiring sheriffs to issue permits to valid applicants could create problems if the underlying ruling is overturned on appeal.
“If no stay is entered, various county sheriffs will likely begin issuing permits to individuals between 18 and 21 years old while the defendants’ appeal is pending,” she wrote. “If this court’s decision were later overturned on appeal, the parties do not agree and point to no definitive authority to resolve the question of what legal effect that would have on any permits issued to 18-to-20-year-olds in the interim.”
The Minnesota case is similar to other lawsuits related to gun permit eligibility that could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
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