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Massachusetts High Court Upholds Under-21 Handgun Carry Ban, Affirming the Conviction of a 20-Year-Old Who Was Never Allowed to Apply
Key Takeaways
Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that the state's ban on handgun carry licenses for people under 21 is constitutional.
The ruling affirmed the conviction of 20-year-old Mikai Thomson, who was arrested in December 2021 after fleeing police and discarding a semiautomatic handgun.
Thomson's lawyers argued applying for a license would have been futile because Massachusetts law made him ineligible to apply at all.
A separate federal lawsuit, Escher v. Noble, filed February 14, 2025, challenges Massachusetts' ban on 18- to 20-year-olds possessing…
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