Prof. Megan Walsh Interviewed by The Trace About Supreme Court Letting Stand Appeals Court Ruling on Age Requirements for Gun Permits

Professor Megan Walsh was interviewed by The Trace regarding the Supreme Court declining to hear Worth v. Jacobson, letting stand the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that struck down Minnesota’s age requirements for permits to carry concealed guns. A stay had been in place during the appeals process, allowing Minnesota to continue enforcing its age requirements. By denying Minnesota’s request to consider the case, the justices effectively lifted the state’s de facto ban on 18- to 20-year-olds carrying handguns in public. Now, the state must start accepting permit applications from young adults. Prof. Walsh, director of the Gun Violence Prevention Clinic, said the Minnesota case is one of several unresolved Second Amendment questions that she expects the justices will eventually want to resolve. She said, “I don’t think this is a final answer on age-limit cases from the Supreme Court,” she said about the Minnesota case. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that a majority of justices think that the 8th Circuit approach was correct. I think it might just not be the right vehicle for questions that are going to have to be answered by the Supreme Court sooner rather than later.”