A federal judge in the US state of Virginia has ruled that a federal law passed more than 50 years ago that blocks the sale of handguns to youths under the age of 21 violates Americans’ constitutional right to own firearms, Reuters and Agerpres reported. Friday.

The ruling, handed down Wednesday by Judge Robert Payne, appointed by former President George W. Bush, is not yet final and is expected to be appealed by the Justice Department.

This will in no way affect the 19 US states that have their own laws prohibiting the sale of firearms to persons under the age of 21.

Elliott Harding, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the case, four young men between the ages of 18 and 20 who wanted to purchase such weapons, said he was pleased with the magistrate’s decision.

The law invalidated by Robert Paine was passed by the US Congress in 1968 to ban the sale of handguns to young people between the ages of 18 and 21 on the grounds that they commit more crimes than their older counterparts.

Since then, young Americans can still buy revolvers and handguns at fairs or through their parents, but not at federally authorized stores, where they can instead buy any type of gun, AFP noted.

The right to bear arms is an increasingly controversial topic in the US

The right to own a gun, defended by many Americans and enshrined in the Constitution by the US “founding fathers” in the 18th century, has become an increasingly controversial topic in a country with high levels of gun violence, including numerous mass shootings with casualties.

There have been at least 210 such tragedies this year alone, the most in seven years, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass gun attack as one that results in the injury or death of at least four people other than the assailant.

US President Joe Biden has repeatedly called on Congress to pass legislation to limit access to the weapons used in such attacks and introduce more background checks on gun buyers.

After the latest gun attack in Texas that left 9 dead and 7 injured at a mall in Dallas, Biden called on Congress to ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, and to introduce criminal and psychiatric background checks for gun buyers. .

“I demand safe gun regulation. I demand an end to the immunity of arms manufacturers,” the US president said in a press release, assuring that he would “immediately” promulgate legislation with such provisions.