Judge Andrew Napolitano said on Wednesday that Dick’s Sporting Goods could face legal issues if they try to ban anyone under 21 from purchasing firearms.
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Dick’s announced that they would pull AR-15s from their Field & Stream stores, would no longer sell high-capacity magazines and would no longer sell to people under the age of 21.
Napolitano warned on Fox Business Network that the attempt to enforce their own age limit on gun purchases could cause them some leal trouble.
“It would really depend on where the 18-year-old is and where the Dick’s is located, because the federal law prohibiting age discrimination doesn’t kick in until age 40, but state law can at age 18,” he explained. “New Jersey protects you from age 18 up.”
“So they cannot get away with this in New Jersey, it is absolutely a decision they can’t make,” he continued, explaining that the store could make “judgment calls” on who to sell to based on maturity, but could not do so “solely on the basis of age.”
“We have civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on certain bases…so they can’t not sell to somebody on the basis of any of those prohibited characteristics,” one of which may be age, Napolitano concluded.