Supreme Court tosses out decision letting 18-year-olds carry guns during emergencies in Pennsylvania

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday tossed out a decision allowing 18-year-olds to openly carry guns during emergencies in Pennsylvania.

There were no noted dissents in the high court's brief order. It lets stand a ban on people aged 18 to 20 carrying guns in public during a declared state of emergency.

The case comes amid major shifts in the firearm legal landscape following an influential Supreme Court decision in 2022 that expanded gun rights. The high court said any firearm restrictions must have a strong basis in history.

Multiple gun laws have been struck down in the wake of that ruling, including age restrictions, by judges in states like Minnesota, Virginia and Texas. The Pennsylvania challengers argued that younger people weren’t barred from carrying guns at the time of the nation’s founding, so they shouldn't be barred today.

But the Supreme Court handed down a new opinion this year that upheld a law intended to protect victims of domestic violence. The high court said Tuesday the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should reconsider the Pennsylvania case in light of that decision.

Pennsylvania officials, for their part, had argued that there is a long tradition of limiting guns to people 21 and older dating back to the 1850s.