NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging Massachusetts’s Ban on the Possession and Carry of Handguns and Semiautomatic Firearms by Adults Under 21

Today, the National Rifle Association, along with the Gun Owners’ Action League, Commonwealth Second Amendment, Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, and an individual, Mack Escher, filed a lawsuit challenging Massachusetts’s prohibition on the possession and carry of handguns and semiautomatic firearms by adults under 21.

On July 25, 2024, Governor Maura Healey signed H.B. 4885, “an omnibus bill altering in several respects existing Massachusetts laws pertaining to firearms.” Along with many other extreme restrictions, the law entirely bans18-to-20-year-olds from possessing or carrying any type of handgun or semiautomatic firearm.

“Massachusetts’s new gun control law is one of the most severe attacks on the right to keep and bear arms in our nation’s history,” said NRA-ILA Executive Director, John Commerford. “Vindicating the rights of young adults is just our first step towards dismantling this unconstitutional law.”

Under the law, adults under 21 are eligible for a firearm identification card, but a firearm identification card does not permit its holder to purchase, possess, or transfer any handguns or semiautomatic firearms. To exercise those rights, Bay Staters must obtain a license to carry, but the law declares adults under 21 ineligible for that very license.

The Supreme Court has already held in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), that law-abiding citizens have a right to possess handguns and other “common” firearms—which includes semiautomatic firearms. In the NRA’s landmark victory, NYSRPA v. Bruen (2022), the Court held that law-abiding citizens have a right to publicly carry firearms. Because 18-to-20-year-olds are among “the people” protected by the Second Amendment (as the Third, Fifth, and Eighth Circuits have all recently decided), Massachusetts’s prohibition on the possession and carry of handguns and semiautomatic weapons by adults under 21 clearly violates the Second Amendment.

The complaint in Escher v. Noble was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org for future updates on NRA-ILA’s ongoing efforts to defend your constitutional rights, and please visit https://www.nraila.org/legal-legislation/current-litigation/ to keep up to date on NRA-ILA’s ongoing litigation efforts.