Notwithstanding the impulse to make a wisecrack about the Amish Mafia, let’s consider the Old-Order ways of Andrew Hertzler and his test case for gun rights in Pennsylvania.

Hertzler, who lives in an Amish community in Lancaster County, wants to buy a gun for self-defense, but he says his religious beliefs don’t allow him to get the photo identification he needs under federal law to make the purchase.

Nevermind the Amish are as opposed to firearms for self-defense as they are photo IDs.

In a suit filed Friday in U.S. Middle District Court, Hertzler claims the photo ID requirement is a violation of his constitutional right to possess a firearm. He also claims it’s a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The suit states Hertzler was not allowed to buy a gun in June at a state licensed firearms dealer after he presented his state-issued non-photo ID.

He is not prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a firearm, he noted, but he was told by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that there are no exceptions to the photo ID requirement.

What’s the Amish objection to photographs? According to the Internet website amishreligiousfreedom.org: “Old Order Amish and Mennonites forbid photography of their people, and their objection is based on the second commandment, Exodus 20:4: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

The same website notes that Amish are no strangers to guns, which they routinely use for hunting and for pest control on their farms.

However, their beliefs forbid them from using guns against people under any circumstance including self-defense. They are pacifists and conscientious objectors — they do not serve in the military or as police officers. Full-bearded Amishmen even shave their mustaches because of the mustache’s traditional association with soldiers, according to amishreligiousfreedom.org.

The element of self-defense in Hertzler bid to buy a gun makes Hertzler unique among the Amish, although it probably won’t be a factor in his lawsuit. It’s his constitutional right under the Second Amendment. He simply contends the use of the state’s non-photo ID supplemented with other documentation should be sufficient to allow him to buy a gun.

However, the precedent that Hertzler’s lawsuit would set will be a factor in future gun purchases. How many others will seek an exemption from the photo ID requirement? Will processing these claims become an impediment to a background check procedure that’s already overburdened?

And what about all those Amish hunters and farmers who have guns? Have they not bought any new firearms in the past 20 or 30 years? Did they give in to the photo ID requirement?

The courts should move on this lawsuit, but move slowly and thoroughly. Let’s not overlook any potential negative consequences we’ll regret later.