NJ Under-21 Handgun Ban Evades Defendants’ Suit on Age Loophole

Challengers to New Jersey’s under-21 ban on handgun possession had to seek and be rejected for a permit to challenge the rule, a state court ruled Thursday.

Three defendants facing gun possession charges, then 18, 19 and 20, needed to have first sought and been rejected for handgun permits New Jersey wouldn’t have given them in order to challenge their charges under the Second Amendment, the Superior Court Appellate Division said in an unauthored opinion.

The ruling keeps alive the question of whether New Jersey’s ban violates the firearm rights principles bolstered by the US Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling ...