ATLANTA (February 12, 2024) – Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced that the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision that dismissed its lawsuit against Georgia’s young adult handgun carry ban, saying that the case should have proceeded to the merits instead. The opinion in Baughcum v. Jackson can be viewed at FPCLegal.org.

“We are confident that the case is not moot—at least as to one of the individual plaintiffs and the FPC,” reads the Opinion of the Eleventh Circuit. “Although Meyer and Long have turned twenty-one while this case has been pending, Baughcum is still twenty. So his claim (and thus the FPC’s claim based on his membership in the organization) is not moot. Moreover, the FPC is a large membership organization and says it has other eighteen-to twenty-one-year-old members in Georgia, such that it continues to have associational standing to litigate this suit.”

“We’re pleased that the Eleventh Circuit has agreed with FPC and the individual Plaintiffs that our challenge to Georgia’s unconstitutional age restriction can proceed,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, FPC Action Foundation’s Vice President and General Counsel, and counsel for FPC. “The defendants have sought to avoid the actual constitutional issues underlying this case by attempting to distract the Court with theories about why we couldn’t bring this challenge. Now that the Eleventh Circuit has settled that question, we can proceed with what really matters – vindicating the rights of 18-to-20-year-old adults in Georgia.”

FPC is joined in this case by three individual members, all of whom were under 21 when this case was filed and were thus prohibited by the State of Georgia from bearing a concealed firearm outside of their homes. 

Individuals who would like to join the FPC Grassroots Army and support important pro-rights lawsuits and programs like these can sign up at JoinFPC.org. Individuals and organizations wanting to support charitable efforts in support of the restoration of Second Amendment and other natural rights can also make a tax-deductible donation to the FPC Action Foundation. For more on FPC’s lawsuits and other pro-Second Amendment initiatives, visit FPCLegal.org and follow FPC on Instagram, X (Twitter), Facebook, YouTube.

Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org), a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty, defend constitutional rights, advance individual liberty, and restore freedom. FPC’s efforts are focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and adjacent issues including freedom of speech, due process, unlawful searches and seizures, separation of powers, asset forfeitures, privacy, encryption, and limited government. The FPC team are next-generation advocates working to achieve the Organization’s strategic objectives through litigation, research, scholarly publications, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory action, grassroots activism, education, outreach, and other programs.

FPC Law (FPCLaw.org) is the nation’s first and largest public interest legal team focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the leader in the Second Amendment litigation and research space.

FPC Action Foundation (FPCActionFoundation.org), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty through charitable legal action, public policy, education, and research programs.