This Article surveys nineteenth century laws and cases that restricted arms ownership based on age. We analyze the nineteenth century statutes and cases through the lens of five federal Circuit Court of Appeals cases involving restrictions on the Second Amendment rights of young people.

Part II examines Rene E., a First Circuit case. Because Rene E. relied on nineteenth century cases, Part II analyzes those cases.

Part III is the Fifth Circuit’s NRA v. BATF, which cited nineteenth century statutes, some of which had led to the cases that Rene E. cited. So, Part III reviews the statutes.

Parts IV, V, and VI each have shorter discussions of the other leading Circuit cases: NRA v. McCraw (5th Cir.) (carry permits); Horsely v. Trame (7th Cir.) (parental permission for gun license), and Ezell v. Chicago (7th Cir., “Ezell II”) (ban on persons under 18 using firing ranges).

Because this Article focuses on post-Heller circuit court cases and their use of history, there are certain topics that we do not address. First, we discuss the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment decisions only to the extent that they are discussed by the circuit opinions. Second, we do not discuss the history of colonial and Early Republic militia statutes. Those statutes typically set the minimum age for militia service at sixteen, although by the end of the eighteenth century the minimum age federally and in most states had been raised to eighteen. Third, we do not discuss contemporary gun control laws, except to the extent that particular laws are at issue in the circuit cases we analyze. All of the topics that we do not examine in this Article will be reviewed in depth in an Article in the next issue of this Journal.