FILE – The Supreme Court in Washington, Oct. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

A federal judge presiding in the District Court in Johnstown has put a hold on a gun rights case that challenges Pennsylvania’s bar on the issuance of carry permits to individuals under 21 years of age after learning that the State Police Commissioner has sought review of the issue in a similar case by the United States Supreme Court.

The case before United States District Judge Stephanie L. Haines was filed last November by two 19-year-old women, Hannah Young of Blair County and Ariana Palmaccio of Luzerne County, challenging three provisions of the State’s Uniform Firearms Act that effectively bar the issuance of carry permits to young adults.

State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris and the sheriffs of both Blair and Luzerne Counties, who issue the permits on behalf of the state, are named as defendants.

The challenge to the law moved quickly through the District Court in Johnstown, with Haines ordering the two sides to close discovery by Aug. 25, and set the date for a bench trial on the issue to begin Oct. 6.

The two women are seeking to enjoin enforcement against the state’s bar on the issuance of carry permits to younger adults, and are asking the judge to order the defendants to pay for their attorney fees.

Both women are members of the National Rifle Association and the national Firearms Policy Coalition Inc.

Those two organizations are listed as plaintiffs in the case.

Meanwhile, a similar challenge concerning the issue was filed in 2020 by a group of citizens from western Pennsylvania and has already been through several court reviews.

That case, entitled Madison M. Lara and others versus the Commissioner of the State Police (Paris), was initially dismissed by District Judge William S. Stickman, who presides in Allegheny County.

However, Stickman’s ruling favoring the Pennsylvania law was vacated by a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A hearing before the entire Circuit Court last year refused to overturn the panel’s decision.

On June 26, the commissioner sought review of the 3rd Circuit decision by the United States Supreme Court.

Last Friday, lawyers representing both sides — Young and Palmaccio, as well as the sheriffs and the commissioner — filed a joint motion to stay any further action on the Johnstown case until the Supreme Court review of the Lara case has been completed.

“This case (before Haines) involves a challenge to Pennsylvania laws that restrict the ability of 18-to-20 year olds to carry firearms in Pennsylvania,” the motion states.

It pointed out that Haines has stayed the case pending the outcome of the 3rd Circuit review.

The request for further stay of the Johnstown case was being requested, the motions contended, “because it is reasonable to believe the Supreme Court’s disposition of Lara — or one of the other pending petitions presenting similar cases — will simplify the issues and trial in (the Johnstown case).”

The plaintiffs and defendants “now agree that a stay is appropriate,” the request continued.

It explained, “Specifically, there is a substantial likelihood that the Supreme Court will, next term (which begins in October) take up the question whether, or to what extent, the Second Amendment rights of 18-to-20-year-olds can be curtailed consistent with the Constitution.”

The two sides indicated that it is not the best for either side to continue to prepare for trial “when the legal landscape may well be changed or clarified in the near future.”

The parties also noted that there are two other cases, other than Lara, involving similar issues — barring 18-to-20-year olds from purchasing handguns from licensed dealers.

On Monday, Haines ordered that all deadlines in the Johnstown case are stayed, including the October trial, pending the resolution of the Paris-versus-Lara case.

She ordered the attorneys on both sides to provide a status report on the Lara case by Oct. 15 and every 30 days thereafter.