"The US government’s prohibition on 18-to-20-year-olds buying handguns violates the Second Amendment

[AlexanderA]

There is no age restriction as it relates to rights.

Sure there is. Constitutionally, you have to be 18 in order to vote. I believe voting is a right.

 

[ColoradoMinuteMan]

Sure there is. Constitutionally, you have to be 18 in order to vote. I believe voting is a right.

Fair enough, to be honest I wasn’t familiar with the 26th Amendment until I just read it.

 

[JN01]

28 states allow 18-year-olds to purchase/possess handguns from sources other than FFLs. 14 states allow 18-year-olds to carry concealed, 2 allow 19-year-olds to carry concealed, and 32 allow 18-year-olds to open carry. It seems a lot of 18–20-year-olds already have access to handguns, is there any data that shows they are particularly problematic (I'm talking about those who legally possess them, not the subset of criminals in that age group who aren't supposed to have them in the first place and do commit a large portion of violent crimes)?

Ironically, since all those guns are obtained in private transactions, they aren't subject to the background checks that the gun-control crowd loves.

 

[wayneinFL]

"Age discrimination" is built right into the U.S. constitution. Age 35 to be President, 30 to be a Senator, 25 for Congress. So the Founders obviously had in mind a sliding scale relating age to rights and responsibilities.

It's true that some people under 21 have more wisdom and maturity than some people over 65. But, practically speaking, we can't make rules based on the outliers. We have to deal with the averages.

Outliers? You know the leaves don't change in Florida, right? Yiu know it's fall here when the first snowbird drives into a storefront. Both of the corner stores next to me have been driven into by old people who thought they knew their limitations.

The winter is like 2AM in front of a bar. People driving on the sidewalk. Driving the wrong way on highways and one way streets.

Driving isn't even a right. It should be far easier for the government to take away your privilege to use public roads than it is for the government to remove the right of an 18 year old to buy a gun.