DOJ Just Asked the Fifth Circuit for Time to Settle the Under-21 Handgun Ban
Cam Edwards at Bearing Arms reported September 22: in FPC v. ATF — the Louisiana challenge to the federal ban on dealer handgun sales to 18-to-20-year-olds — the Justice Department sought and received another briefing extension. The new reason, as quoted: “to enable the parties to discuss a negotiated resolution.” Firearms Policy Coalition posted the same day the request was granted. A district judge had already enjoined the statute inside the Fifth Circuit for then-members of FPC, SAF, and the Louisiana Shooting Sports Association. This is a delay for talks. It is not a consent decree.
- Bearing Arms, Sept. 22: DOJ obtained another Fifth Circuit extension in FPC v. ATF, quoting the request as time “to enable the parties to discuss a negotiated resolution.”
- FPC posted Sept. 21 that the request was granted. Prior extensions were for conflicting deadlines; this one is for talks.
- Underlying: Louisiana district injunction of 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1) and (c)(1), limited to the Fifth Circuit and then-members of FPC, SAF, and LSSA. Plaintiffs had appealed the scope.
- Follows the Sept. 17 OLC opinion on the same subsections. Statute remains. Not a signed settlement and not ATF rulemaking.
- CASA still limits universal injunctions. Retail change still requires ATF action or a broader court order.
Bearing Arms dated the report September 22, 2026. The case is FPC v. ATF, the live Fifth Circuit fight over 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1) and (c)(1) — the federal ban on licensed dealers selling handguns to adults under 21. Earlier this year a federal judge in Louisiana held the law unconstitutional and enjoined enforcement, but only inside the Fifth Circuit and only for people who were members of Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, and Louisiana Shooting Sports Association when the suit was filed. Plaintiffs appealed the scope of that injunction. DOJ had been seeking to appeal the merits and had already taken two extensions. The latest merits deadline was Monday. FPC announced on X that the department asked again and the court granted it.
The change is the reason. Prior asks, Bearing Arms writes, were calendaring: other deadlines in other cases. This ask is “to enable the parties to discuss a negotiated resolution.” That is DOJ’s phrase as printed. It follows last week’s Office of Legal Counsel opinion that those two subsections may not be used to put criminal penalties on dealers who sell handguns to law-abiding 18-to-20-year-olds. The statute is still on the books. ATF Director Robert Cekada has not, in that report, announced a final rule. Edwards notes CASA still sits on universal injunctions, so a broader court order covering every future member is not automatic, and a dealer rule that actually opens the counter would still have to come from ATF.
No signed settlement is in the Bearing Arms piece. No Form 4473 change is in it. What is on the docket is another clock, and a sentence that says the parties are talking instead of briefing the government’s appeal.
"DOJ is no longer asking the Fifth Circuit for time to defend the under-21 dealer felony. It is asking for time to talk."← More Stories
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