United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- When are you old enough to exercise your rights? This is a question that, quite frankly, America has been of multiple minds on. Just in terms of our Second Amendment rights, one can buy a long gun from a federally licensed dealer at 18, but must wait until reaching the age of 21 to purchase a handgun from the same dealer according to 18 USC 922. Oddly enough, possession of a handgun by someone from ages 18-20 is legal.
It doesn’t make any sense.
After all, at 18, people are considered old enough to serve in the military and to vote. They are also considered adults in terms of responsibility for criminal actions. Yet they are considered too young to smoke or drink. In fact, when the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed, the voting age was still 21. That did not change until the 26th Amendment was ratified in 1971.
Fortunately, on the Second Amendment front, Senator Cynthia Lummus (R-WY) and Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) have introduced S 1373 and HR 2890 to change that. In one sense, it’s flipping Dianne Feinstein’s Age 21 Act around to advance our Second Amendment rights. Similar legislation was not introduced in the last Congress, and that has been a mistake over the years.
When one considers the increasing momentum of concealed carry, especially given that roughly 40 percent of the states have constitutional carry, such a move is logical, especially given federal law on possession of handguns. If anything, Second Amendment supporters should feel disappointment in members of Congress for not taking this on.
One of the biggest reasons is that it undercuts Feinstein’s Age 21 Act, and makes it look a little bit more extreme. The fact is, the right to keep and bear arms, like the right to vote, is protected under the Constitution. We lose nothing by linking the two and gain much.
First of all, it would place anti-Second Amendment extremists on the defensive. This is always a good thing, especially when we can again measure the high ground. In this case, their defensive movement could alienate younger voters, a demographic that may already be shifting away from supporting restrictions on our Second Amendment rights.
Second, it illustrates their hypocrisy. Put it this way, for all that many anti-Second Amendment extremists cry about “voter suppression,” the same hoops are celebrated – in fact, derided as not enough – when it comes to the Second Amendment. If a photo ID is not an insurmountable hurdle for exercising your Second Amendment rights, then is it insurmountable for voting?
Second Amendment supporters should contact their Representative and Senators to urge passage of S 1373 and HR 2890. They also should encourage their state lawmakers to pass similar legislation at the state level. In addition, they need to support the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action and Political Victory Fund to ensure that the current anti-Second Amendment regimes in the House, Senate, and White House and at the state level are defeated at the ballot box as soon as possible.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
At 18 I’m old enough to protect my country but not old enough to protect myself. The Socialists would see NO INDIVIDUAL having the means to protect himself…except for party members. It sems that this has all happened before. What happened to, “Never Forget” and “I Remember”? Oh yeah, Socialists run the school boards and teach our children.
Important you can vote against them, and get your friends too as well. WE NEED TO TAKE BACK the schools ,RIGHTS are EVERYONE’S when you run up against someone shouting you down ask them if they are impotent, when they answer yes ask them to walk on water, or save someone with terminal cancer stop a war they cant together we can make a difference but divided we fail
Below the radar because there is zero chance of them going anywhere.
Mr. Hutchison is correct when he describes voting as a “.Right ” . The 15th , 19th and 2 th Amendments address that concept . Also the Ninth Amendment did that in the Bill of Rights : ” The enumeration in the Constitution of certain Rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the People ” .”Rights ” are inherent in the People . They are not “granted ” by the government .
I created an account just to comment here. “The fact is, the right to keep and bear arms, like the right to vote, is protected under the Constitution.” No, it isn’t. There is nothing inherent in voting that ever defined it as a right. Quite the contrary. The government has always set the standards for who could and could not vote, so by definition, voting is a privilege granted by government. The right to keep and bear arms is actually spelled out as a right in the Constitition, meaning that the government has ZERO say regarding its exercise. So many… Read more »
As an aside I think in all these articles there should be a link to contact your senator. Putin your state, town, or zip and boom you are in E-Mail ready to send your request.
Why do some people insist a child is capable of making decisions about their gender, but not their own personal safety. Both are (possibly) life-changing, and should be approached with a certain level of age maturity behind them. Such as adult status.
When my son was in elementary school they took it upon themselves to issue corporate punishment because he spoke out of turn. When I learned of this I confronted the school board and told them if they ever hit another one of my children there would be hell to pay for it. Their rules or mandates or whatever you wish to call them are made to intimidate young people into believing they have to reform to their standards. I was and still am opposed to any punishment issued to young children.
You can always spot an adult who wasn’t spanked as a child because he (or she) is in such dire need of a good ass-whuppin’ now.