Teens, Firearms Coalition Can Challenge Georgia Ban on Gun Carry

A group of young Georgians have standing to sue county judges over the constitutionality of the state’s prohibition on people under 21 years of age getting gun-carry licenses, the Eleventh Circuit ruled, reversing a district court’s dismissal of the case.

The young people said the age restrictions on carry licenses prevent them from exercising their Second Amendment rights. They want to carry guns, they also said, because they face dangerous situations and work in high-crime areas. They are suing probate judges, who issue gun-carry licenses, and Georgia’s Commissioner of Public Safety, who designs the license application forms.

A district court in Georgia dismissed the suit from the three Georgians, then under 21, and the Firearms Policy Coalition, a gun-rights advocacy group, without making a determination on the merits of their constitutional argument, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said. Instead, the lower court reasoned the plaintiffs don’t have standing because they haven’t alleged a cognizable injury traceable to the defendants; that the case was moot because Georgia laws have changed to loosen licensing requirements; and that that case was unripe because the young people haven’t applied for and been denied a carry license, nor are they being prosecuted for unlawfully carrying a gun.

On appeal, “the question turns on whether the [plaintiffs] suffered an injury in fact that is fairly traceable to the defendant and that can be redressed by a court’s order directed at the defendant,” Judge Andrew Brasher said in the opinion Friday. “We believe they have.”

Brasher said that the young people have standing because "[be]ing forced to choose between suffering criminal punishment or giving up a constitutional right is an injury in fact,” laying out a standard for injury in cases where plaintiffs allege a law acts as a barrier to exercising a constitutional right—and setting this case apart from others addressing carry laws for those aged 18-20.

The case isn’t moot, he also said, because even under Georgia’s new laws that waive a license requirement for some groups, people under 21 are not granted licenses to carry guns.

While some of the plaintiffs turned 21 since they brought the suit, one of them is still under 21, Brasher said, and the advocacy group said it has members aged 18 to 20, so the case isn’t moot due to the plaintiffs’ ages either, Brasher said.

And the plaintiffs’ lack of attempt to get a carry license doesn’t make the case unripe, Brasher said, because doing so would be a “futile gesture” when they know they don’t meet the state’s requirements Brasher said, citing US Supreme Court precedent.

Brasher agreed with the lower court that the young people can’t sue Georgia’s Commissioner of Public Safety, because he is too attenuated from the enforcement of the carry prohibitions, but said the probate judges aren’t.

He reversed the district court’s dismissal as to the case against the probate judges and affirmed as to the case against the Commissioner.

The case follows a ruling earlier this year in the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit nixing Pennsylvania’s gun-carry bar on people ages 18 to 20.

Judge Charles R. Wilson and Judge Jill A. Pryor joined in the opinion.

The young plaintiffs and gun-rights coalition are represented by Cooper & Kirk PLLC and John Monroe Law PC. The probate judges are represented by the Office of the Georgia Attorney General and Williams Morris & Waymore LLC.

The case is Baughcum, Jr. v. Jackson, 11th Cir., No. 22-13444, 2/9/24.