At first I was quick to dismiss the lawsuit by a 20-year old Oregon man against Dick’s Sporting Goods as another attempt at victimization for cheap exposure, but the details are more interesting than at first glance. The suit focuses on Dick’s recent move to ban gun sales to customers under the age of 21, which the plaintiff argues goes against Oregon’s laws on discrimination. This is the same law that was used against a Christian Oregon baker in a court case similar to the one now under the consideration of the Supreme Court.
Many libertarians have criticized the Colorado’s case before the Supreme Court for relying on the argument that the law restricts the bakers’ first amendment right to expression and religion. In a libertarian society, the issue would simply be one of property rights — with the right of the baker to refuse service to any client he does not want to do business with. The problem, as Ryan McMaken has noted, is that public accommodation laws have effectively neutered the property rights of business owners in the eyes of the court. As such, for practicality sake, the bakers legal strategy may be his best hope at having the court side in his favor.
Dick’s, of course, would have a hard time making that case, and the wording of the Oregon law seems to make this case a clear one. The law clearly states that discrimination based on age is illegal, and Oregon law protects the right of anyone over 18 to purchase and own a gun.
Now that we have a case that involves the opposite end of a cultural battle, perhaps this will force the state of Oregon to re-evaluate its discrimination laws.
