The Justice Department will no longer pursue federal criminal cases against licensed firearms dealers who sell handguns or handgun ammunition to law-abiding adults aged 18 to 20, after concluding that the long-standing federal prohibition is unconstitutional.
The department's Office of Legal Counsel issued its 49-page opinion on 18 September 2026. It found that 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(b)(1) and (c)(1), which restrict such sales by federally licensed dealers, cannot constitutionally be enforced. The Trump administration has directed federal prosecutors to follow that conclusion.
Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser announced the decision, saying: “The Department of Justice may not constitutionally seek to impose criminal penalties on dealers who sell handguns to law-abiding adults who, in nearly every other relevant respect, are members of the political community.”
The statutes remain printed in the U.S. Code. Congress has not repealed them, and the Office of Legal Counsel opinion does not itself invalidate the law, establish a judicial precedent or bind the courts. It sets the executive branch's position on whether it may enforce the provisions through criminal prosecution.
The restrictions date from the Gun Control Act of 1968 and have barred federally licensed dealers from selling handguns and handgun ammunition to people under 21 since 1968. Congress included the measure in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, citing a correlation between access to handguns and violent crime.
Federal law continues to permit adults under 21 to purchase rifles, shotguns and associated ammunition. The Justice Department opinion concerns handguns and handgun ammunition. It also leaves untouched federal restrictions on handgun possession by minors under 18 and other federal background-check requirements.
The Office of Legal Counsel applied the Second Amendment approach set out by the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller, New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen and Wolford v. Lopez. It concluded that adults aged 18 to 20 fall within “the people” protected by the amendment, and that the sales restrictions presumptively burden their ability to obtain arms in common use.
Gaiser pointed to early American laws that required military service and possession of weapons from age 18. In the department's view, those laws support the conclusion that 18-year-olds were fully included within the constitutional political community.
The legal question has divided federal appellate courts. In Reese v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, adults under 21 challenged the restriction. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that historical tradition did not support a ban on sales of handguns and handgun ammunition to 18-to-20-year-olds under the Bruen test.
That ruling applied only within the 5th Circuit's jurisdiction. The 4th Circuit upheld the federal age restrictions, creating a split between the circuit courts. The Supreme Court declined to consider the issue and has never ruled on the constitutionality of the handgun sales ban for adults aged 18 to 20.
The new enforcement policy means licensed dealers cannot face federal criminal prosecution under these provisions for sales to law-abiding adults between 18 and 20. The announcement also signals that the department may support young adult plaintiffs seeking to obtain firearms. Federal prosecutors across the country are likely to refrain from bringing felony charges against licensed dealers suspected of making such sales.
The opinion does not change state laws that bar handgun sales to adults under 21. It also does not answer whether Congress will amend or repeal the statutes, whether other courts will accept the department's constitutional analysis, or what effect the policy will have on handgun sales nationwide.
Emma Brown, executive director of GIFFORDS, criticised the decision. She said: “People ages 18 to 20 are responsible for a disproportionate share of school shootings, public mass shootings, and gun homicides overall.”
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