Florida Court Rules Young Adults Have the Same Right to Self-Defense as Everyone Else

According to a report from Courthouse News, a Florida appeals court ruled that the state's ban on concealed carry for adults between 18 and 20 years old violates the Second Amendment on Wednesday, June 17.

Who Made the Decision and Why

The decision, written by Judge Spencer Levine of the Fourth District Court of Appeal and joined by two colleagues, struck down a law passed by the Florida Legislature in 2023 in the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting.

The ruling is straightforward in its logic: if the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding adults to keep and bear arms, then adults are adults. The court found no constitutional basis for treating 18 to 20-year-olds as a separate class of citizens with diminished rights, noting that these are the same Americans the country sends to war without restriction.

How the Case Got Here

The case began with the 2024 arrest of Jaylen Eubanks, who was 18 at the time, on charges that included carrying a concealed firearm. Eubanks challenged the age restriction as unconstitutional, but the trial court disagreed and upheld the law. He pleaded no contest and reserved the right to appeal.

The appellate court sided with Eubanks, citing the Supreme Court's landmark Bruen decision and a 2024 federal appeals court ruling that struck down Minnesota's similar age-based concealed carry restrictions. The court's reasoning leaned heavily on the plain text of the Constitution and the understanding that 18-year-olds are full members of the political community the Second Amendment was written to protect.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who had declined to defend the law in the first place, praised the ruling and said the state would not seek further review.

The Tension the Ruling Exposes

The law Florida passed in 2023 was an emotional response to an unspeakable tragedy. Seventeen people were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and the legislature acted.

Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor made that clear when he stepped in to argue for the law after the attorney general walked away from it, and his position reflects a genuine community that still carries that wound.

Let us be clear: a real tragedy deserves a real response, but the Constitution does not bend based on how painful the circumstances were that prompted a particular law. The appeals court's job was not to weigh the grief behind the legislation against the rights it restricted. Its job was to measure the law against the text and history of the Second Amendment, and by that measure, a categorical age-based ban on adult concealed carry does not hold up.

Restricting 18 to 20-year-olds from exercising the same rights as other law-abiding adults turns the Second Amendment into a second-class right. That framing comes directly from the Supreme Court's own language, and it was the right framework to apply here.

See also: FLORIDA GUN LAWS: CONCEALED CARRY, OPEN CARRY, PERMITS, AND WHERE YOU CAN CARRY  

What Comes Next

With the attorney general declining further review and signaling that implementation will move forward, the practical effect of this ruling is that Floridians between 18 and 20 years old will soon be able to obtain concealed carry permits on the same terms as older adults.

That is a significant expansion of carry rights in a state that has already moved aggressively in a constitutional direction on firearms over the past several years, including the recent appellate court decision striking down Florida's long-standing open carry ban.

The broader legal landscape is also shifting. Courts applying the Bruen historical analysis framework are increasingly skeptical of restrictions that lack a clear analog in the founding era, and age-based categorical bans are proving difficult to defend under that standard.

This ruling is unlikely to be the last of its kind.

Why Legal Protection Matters More Than Ever

Eubanks won, but it took a trial court loss, a no-contest plea with preserved appeal rights, and a full appellate proceeding to get there. For a young adult facing a concealed carry charge in a state where the law itself turned out to be unconstitutional, that is a significant amount of legal exposure to navigate without support.

With over 50% of young adults still living at home, you need legal protection that will encompass your whole household.

This is the situation a Right To Bear membership exists for. Criminal Defense Protection covers 100% of attorney fees for a covered legal defense, including appeals, with the freedom to choose your own attorney. If a firearm is seized during an investigation, Firearm Replacement coverage helps offset that loss. If, and probably when, a case drags on for months while work and life wait, Lost Wage Protection helps absorb the financial pressure that builds in the meantime.

If you have a mixed number of minors and over 18 year olds in the house, consider the Right To Bear Family Plan which covers two adults and every minor in the home. Once they’re officially an adult, you can then add them as secondary members to your plan or change to an individual membership and then add them. The choice is yours. With the makeup of every family looking a little different than another, we make it easy to mix and match what you need to fit your home.

Most people who carry legally never expect to need any of it. In today’s world, the line between a lawful gun owner and a legal fight can be thinner than it looks, and it is worth a great deal less to have protection after the moment arrives than before it.

Sign up for a Right To Bear membership today and make sure that coverage is already in place.