By SUZANNE DOWNING
Sept. 19, 2026 – Alaskans ages 18 to 20 have long been able to buy rifles and shotguns from federally licensed dealers, but federal law has barred those dealers from selling them handguns.
The Justice Department now says it cannot constitutionally bring criminal charges against a dealer solely for selling a handgun to an otherwise law-abiding adult in that age group.
In a legal opinion dated Sept. 17 and released Friday, the department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded that criminal enforcement of two provisions of the Gun Control Act, 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1) and § 922(c)(1), would violate the Second Amendment. The provisions have generally barred licensed dealers from selling handguns or handgun ammunition to people under 21. Federal law already allowed eligible 18- to 20-year-olds to acquire handguns through private sales, subject to applicable law.
The opinion’s practical importance in Alaska is the distinction between a private sale and a sale at a licensed gun shop. It removes the prospect of a federal criminal prosecution under those two provisions for a dealer who sells to an eligible adult ages 18 to 20. It does not establish that Alaska dealers will immediately begin making those sales.
Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser, who heads the Office of Legal Counsel, said 18-year-olds may vote, serve on juries and be drafted. “The Department of Justice may not constitutionally seek to impose criminal penalties on dealers who sell handguns to law-abiding adults who, in nearly every other relevant respect, are members of the political community,” he said in the department’s announcement.
The opinion argues that 18- to 20-year-olds are among “the people” protected by the Second Amendment and that handguns are commonly used arms. Applying Supreme Court decisions that require the government to justify firearms restrictions through the nation’s historical tradition of regulation, the office found no sufficiently similar tradition of barring legal adults from buying firearms. It pointed in part to laws from the nation’s founding that required militia service beginning at 18 and expected those serving to furnish their own arms.
The opinion is binding legal advice within the executive branch, not a court ruling. Congress has not repealed the statutes, and courts are not bound by the Justice Department’s conclusion. The opinion addresses criminal penalties against dealers; it does not resolve whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could pursue license actions or other administrative measures. It also leaves restrictions involving people under 18 and any applicable state laws untouched.
Federal appeals courts have reached differing conclusions on age-based handgun restrictions, and the Supreme Court has not settled this specific question.
