Key Takeaways
- The Firearms Policy Coalition has filed a lawsuit against Louisiana’s 21-year minimum age for concealed handgun permits, claiming it violates the Second Amendment.
- Plaintiffs, aged 18-20, argue they face constraints due to their inability to obtain permits under Louisiana law, despite constitutional carry laws.
- The lawsuit highlights that over 1,300 schools create areas where young adults cannot legally carry handguns without permits.
- According to the plaintiffs, the age restriction denies essential protections under state law that come with carrying licenses.
- The case follows Supreme Court precedents and challenges the state’s justification for restricting rights based on age.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
LAFAYETTE, LA — The Firearms Policy Coalition has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s requirement that concealed handgun permit applicants be at least 21 years old, arguing the rule strips 18-to-20-year-old adults of their Second Amendment right to carry in public.
The suit was filed July 22, 2026, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. The individual plaintiffs are Ella Pool, 19, of Lafayette, and Christian McDuffie, 18, of Youngsville, both members of FPC. The defendant is Colonel Robert P. Hodges, Superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, sued in his official capacity as the official responsible for issuing carry licenses. FPC announced the case in a release titled “FPC Sues Louisiana to End Unconstitutional Age-Based Carry Ban.”
Here is the part that makes this more than a technicality. Louisiana passed constitutional carry in 2024 under Senate Bill 1, which took effect July 4, 2024, and lets adults carry a concealed handgun without a permit. On paper, that includes Pool and McDuffie. In practice, it does not.
The reason is the gun-free school zone. Federal law bars carrying within 1,000 feet of a school unless you hold a state-issued concealed carry license, under the Gun-Free School Zones Act, 18 U.S.C. § 922(q). Louisiana has its own 1,000-foot rule too. Permit holders are exempt. But because Louisiana bars 18-to-20-year-olds from obtaining a permit under La. R.S. § 40:1379.3(C)(4), that exemption is closed to them.
Think about what that means on the ground. According to the complaint, there are more than 1,300 elementary and secondary schools in Louisiana, each throwing off a 1,000-foot buffer that is not marked or posted, and in cities those buffers overlap into a web that covers roads, thoroughfares, and much of daily life. So a 19-year-old who is legally allowed to carry without a permit still cannot lawfully drive across town, because she cannot get the permit that would let her pass through those zones. The lawsuit calls it nearly impossible to comply with the law while carrying and traveling without a permit these adults are forbidden to hold.
There is a second cost the filing points to. Under La. R.S. § 9:2793.12(B), Louisiana carry license holders get civil immunity from damages caused by a justified use of force or self-defense. An 18-to-20-year-old carrying under constitutional carry does not get that protection, because they cannot get the license it is tied to.
More from USA Carry:
The legal argument runs through the Supreme Court’s framework in Bruen and Rahimi. Once conduct falls within the plain text of the Second Amendment, the burden is on the government to prove the restriction fits the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. Plaintiffs lean on the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Reese v. BATFE, which held that 18-to-20-year-olds are part of “the people” the Second Amendment protects, along with rulings from the Eighth Circuit in Worth v. Jacobson and the Third Circuit in Lara that struck down comparable age limits.
What stands out to me is how ordinary the plaintiffs are. The filing describes both as law-abiding adults who meet every requirement for a Louisiana permit except one, their age. These are people old enough to vote, sign contracts, marry, and enlist in the military, and the state has told them a constitutional right does not fully reach them yet. When the government carves a group of adults out of an enumerated right, the honest response is to make the government defend that carve-out in court under the standard the Supreme Court set. That is what this case does.
A fairness note. A lawsuit is one side’s argument, not a ruling. FPC and the plaintiffs call the age rule unconstitutional, Louisiana will have its chance to defend it, and a federal judge will decide. Nothing has been settled yet. The plaintiffs have also asked the court for summary judgment, meaning they want a ruling on the law without a trial.
I will continue tracking this case and will report on the state’s response, the summary judgment briefing, and any rulings as they come.
Read the full article here