Steven McCraw and the Texas Department of Public Safety are appealing the pro-gun ruling to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court
Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) appealed a district court ruling which restored gun rights for 18-20 year old adults in Texas. The Texas district court decision issued by Judge Mark Pittman this summer affirmed that under Texas’ Constitutional Carry law, 18-20 year old law-abiding citizens must be allowed to carry a handgun openly or concealed, without having to first obtain a permit.
The original Constitutional Carry law passed in 2021 only applied to adults 21 years and older – but based on the pro-gun Bruen decision from the Supreme Court this summer, Judge Pittman ruled that all law-abiding adults must be allowed to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
“Judge Pittman rightly ruled that all adults should be allowed to carry their handgun openly or concealed, but once again, government officials in the state of Texas are proven to be anti-gun stooges,” said Dudley Brown, President of the National Association for Gun Rights. “Steven McCraw and DPS leadership don’t want young single mothers or military aged adults to have their rights restored – it’s pathetic, and quite frankly, a violation of their oath of office.”
In a 6-3 decision this summer, Justice Thomas authored the landmark Bruen decision where the U.S. Supreme Court rejected “intermediate scrutiny” – the cost/benefit analysis framework that allowed lower courts and legislatures to rule against the Second Amendment – and instead established the standard for applying the Second Amendment is the text, history, and tradition of the right to keep and bear arms.
This decision which built upon the Heller and McDonald decisions means unconstitutional gun control laws nationwide will be challenged and overturned.
“The evidence is clear: the Texas Department of Public Safety does not want law-abiding 18-20 year old adults to exercise their God-given right to keep and bear arms,” said Chris McNutt, Executive Director of Texas Gun Rights, the state affiliate for the National Association for Gun Rights. “Gov. Greg Abbott needs to lead this state and get the Texas DPS in line. We fought hard and successfully passed Constitutional Carry in Texas, and the ruling by Judge Pittman rightly uses the Bruen decision from this summer to restore gun rights to a large segment of adults who’ve been wrongly stripped of their constitutional rights.”
The Texas DPS appeal will now be heard in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court.
“Deep down DPS knows that their appeal is unconstitutional and immoral, and we are confident that the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court will tell them to take a hike,” concluded Brown.
The National Association for Gun Rights is the nation’s largest “no compromise” pro-gun organization, with 4.5 million members nationwide.
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