Can Vote, Can Enlist, But Can’t Apply to Carry: FPC and NRA Sue Over Pennsylvania’s Ban on Carry Licenses for 18-to-20-Year-Olds

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Firearms Policy Coalition, the National Rifle Association, and Philadelphia resident Daniel Maines filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday, Oct. 29, challenging the Pennsylvania law that bars adults ages 18 to 20 from even applying for a license to carry a firearm. Maines v. Bethel was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. It names two defendants in their official capacities: Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel and Pennsylvania State Police Acting Commissioner Lt. Col. George L. Bivens.

The rule at issue is one line in 18 Pa.C.S. § 6109(b): “An individual who is 21 years of age or older may apply to a sheriff for a license to carry a firearm concealed on or about his person or in a vehicle within this Commonwealth.” Philadelphia residents apply through the police commissioner instead of a sheriff. The complaint points to the Philadelphia Police Department’s own application page, which says only applicants 21 or older may apply for a Pennsylvania license to carry through the department.

According to the complaint, Maines is over 18 but under 21 and lives in Philadelphia County. He has never been charged with or convicted of any misdemeanor or felony. He is eligible for a carry license in every respect except his age. He is a member of both FPC and NRA, and both organizations are suing on behalf of their 18-to-20-year-old Pennsylvania members. The filing says Maines wants to carry a handgun for self-defense, concealed, in his vehicle, and in Philadelphia. It says he would do so immediately if the law allowed it.

The complaint opens with the contrast. On his 18th birthday, Maines became a legal adult. “He can vote, enter contracts, and get married. He can join the military to fight and die for his country.” He cannot apply to carry a handgun.

Pennsylvania generally allows open carry without a license, so a fair question is why the license matters this much for someone under 21. The complaint concedes that Pennsylvanians without a license can ordinarily carry openly. It then walks through three exceptions it says leave 18-to-20-year-olds with almost nowhere to carry.

The first is Philadelphia. Under § 6108, carrying a firearm in any manner, open or concealed, in a “city of the first class” requires a license. That covers cities with a population of one million or more, and Philadelphia has over 1.5 million residents. The complaint says Philadelphia recorded more than 13,000 violent crimes in 2025, nearly 44% of the violent crime in the state, based on its own calculation from FBI data. An 18-year-old who lives there cannot legally carry there at all.

The second is the car. Under § 6106(a), carrying a firearm in a vehicle without a license is generally illegal. The complaint says the narrow exceptions require the gun to be locked and unloaded and limit where it can go, such as to a repair shop or to firearms training. According to the filing, that means no stopping for gas, food, or a bathroom break along the way.

The third is schools. Federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 922(q), bans possessing a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school unless you hold a carry license from that state, among other exceptions. The complaint counts more than 2,900 elementary and secondary schools in Pennsylvania. It notes that those 1,000-foot zones are unmarked and cover major and minor roads across the state. No Pennsylvania license means no exception.

The penalty for getting it wrong is severe. The complaint notes that carrying concealed or in a vehicle without a license is a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in prison. A conviction also makes the person a prohibited possessor under federal law, unable to buy or possess firearms going forward.

The legal backbone of the case is Lara v. Commissioner Pennsylvania State Police. In that 2025 decision, the Third Circuit, the federal appeals court whose rulings bind federal courts in Pennsylvania, held that 18-to-20-year-olds are presumptively among “the people” the Second Amendment protects. The complaint says Lara also directed an injunction, a court order, barring the State Police commissioner from arresting 18-to-20-year-olds who openly carry. The Supreme Court denied certiorari on June 30, 2026, meaning it declined to hear the appeal and left the Third Circuit’s ruling in place. The complaint argues Lara controls this case. It also cites the Eighth Circuit’s 2024 decision striking Minnesota’s age-21 limit for carry permits and the Fifth Circuit’s 2025 decision striking the federal ban on handgun sales to 18-to-20-year-olds.

Under the Supreme Court’s Bruen framework, the plaintiffs argue, carrying a handgun in public is conduct the Second Amendment covers. That shifts the burden to Pennsylvania to prove its age limit fits the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. The complaint says no such tradition exists for law-abiding adults ages 18 to 20. On Philadelphia specifically, it leans on Bruen’s rejection of New York’s attempt to treat Manhattan as off-limits for carry simply because it is crowded.

The plaintiffs are asking for three things. The first is a declaratory judgment, which is a formal ruling that the age limit is unconstitutional. The second is a permanent injunction barring the defendants from enforcing the under-21 restriction in § 6109(b). The third is an order stopping the State Police from running the Pennsylvania Instant Check System in a way that blocks licenses for 18-to-20-year-olds. That system is the background check sheriffs and the Philadelphia police use before issuing a license.

These are allegations in a complaint, and the court has not ruled on any of them. The defendants will have their chance to respond.

More from USA Carry:

• Constitutional Carry in North Carolina Hangs on a Single House Vote as Speaker Hall Sees a Path Forward
• GOA Sues Pennsylvania Over Lifetime Carry Ban Triggered by a 32-Year-Old Marijuana Misdemeanor
• No Permit Recognized, No Way to Apply, No Open Carry: GOA Lawsuit Challenges Virgin Islands’ Total Shutout of Nonresident Carry
• South Dakota Lawmakers Vote to Permit Concealed Pistols in Bars, Awaiting Governor’s Signature
• NYC Concealed Carry Applicants File Federal Lawsuit Over Extreme Licensing Delays

The Third Circuit has already done much of the work here. Lara settled that 18-to-20-year-olds are part of “the people,” and the State Police were ordered to stop arresting them for open carry. Under the system the complaint describes, a 19-year-old in Philadelphia still cannot carry in his own city, in his own car, or within 1,000 feet of a school. A responsible self-defense mindset starts with training and good judgment, and nothing in the complaint suggests Maines lacks either. What he lacks is a way to apply.

I will continue tracking Maines v. Bethel as it moves through the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Read the original story: Can Vote, Can Enlist, But Can’t Apply to Carry: FPC and NRA Sue Over Pennsylvania’s Ban on Carry Licenses for 18-to-20-Year-Olds