Massachusetts' highest court on Tuesday, October 20, upheld the state's rule that a person must be 21 years old to get a licence to carry a handgun, ruling in a 5-2 decision that the requirement is consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation, Bloomberg Law reported.
Source: Bloomberg Law — Split Massachusetts High Court Upholds Handgun-Permit Age Limit
The ruling came in Commonwealth v. Mikai Thomson (SJC-13856). It affirmed Thomson's conviction for carrying a firearm without a licence under Massachusetts law, in a case that arose from a 2021 traffic stop in which officers found marijuana and, after the defendant fled, recovered a loaded handgun he had discarded, according to a case summary of the opinion. Thomson was 20 years old at the time.
Thomson had challenged the under-21 licensing bar as a violation of the Second Amendment, both on its face and as applied to him. Writing for the majority, Justice Wolohojian held that the restriction follows the historical pattern the U.S. Supreme Court's framework requires, the summary said. Law360 likewise reported that the court upheld the law prohibiting anyone under 21 from carrying guns under the licensing scheme.
Source: Law360 — Mass. High Court Backs Ban On Under-21s Carrying Guns
Applying the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in Bruen (2022) and Rahimi (2024), the Massachusetts court examined whether modern age limits are relevantly similar in how and why to founding-era rules, the case summary said. It surveyed militia laws, the infancy doctrine and related common-law principles, concluding that legislatures historically restricted young people's unsupervised access to firearms for safety reasons tied to immaturity, while still allowing supervised use such as militia service — with parents or towns typically supplying arms for enrolled minors rather than minors acquiring them independently.
Bloomberg Law summarised the majority's reasoning the same way: the court cited a founding-era tradition of having adults control and supervise young people's access to firearms until they turn 21. The challenge, Bloomberg Law noted, is one of many working through state and federal courts since Bruen required governments to justify gun regulations by historical tradition.
Source: Bloomberg Law — Split Massachusetts High Court Upholds Handgun-Permit Age Limit
The court also held that because Thomson had never applied for a licence, he lacked standing to bring an as-applied challenge, though his facial challenge could proceed, the summary said. Justices Kafker and Wendlandt concurred in part and dissented in part: they agreed on the standing point and the description of current law but argued the historical analogy needed further briefing and expert analysis, and they would have sent the case back for that purpose.
What is solid
- The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided Commonwealth v. Thomson on Oct. 20, 2026 and affirmed the conviction — case summary and Law360.
- The vote was 5-2 and the ruling leaves the age-21 licence-to-carry requirement in place — Bloomberg Law.
- Justice Wolohojian wrote the majority opinion applying the Bruen and Rahimi historical-tradition framework — case summary.
What is only claimed
- Whether the historical analogy is correct remains disputed inside the court itself: Justices Kafker and Wendlandt would have remanded for further briefing and expert analysis, and similar under-21 challenges are still pending in other courts — the Massachusetts ruling is not the last word nationally.