You know, this is an issue that's of great relevence to me, and almost no one else in the shooting community. I turn 19 in just over a month, so it'll be nearly two years until I can apply for my Florida CCP. But for someone in my position, there's a three year span of legal uncertainties, pitfalls, and idiocies. I truly don't understand why the law declares 18 to be the legal age for virtually everything, but in the realm of firearms feels that a person doesn't gain resposibility until 21 (I suppose I can only be glad that I don't like alcohol). Consider the following:
At age 18, I can legally buy a Barrett M82A1 .50 BMG semi-auto sniper rifle at my local gun store, but I can't buy a .22 LR Ruger MkIII plinking pistol. Except that I can buy it from a private seller, just not a dealer. Why? What remote, insane, idiotic legislative purpose does that serve? It means it's entirely legal for a 19-year-old gang membe to buy a Glock from someone in the newspaper, but not from a respectable gun dealer. By law, all that gang member needs is a Florida driver's license as proof of residency. If they tried to buy a handgun from a dealer (were it legal), the background check would clearly show if they had committed any felonies. Why, in the name of Gord, is the law constructed to PREVENT background checks from being done, while arguably INCREASING the likelihood of a convicted felon acquiring through legal means a handgun? Why is it that I can buy any handgun I want, but only if I can find it for sale in the used market? And let's not even get into the screwed-up complexities of "staw purchases" and "gifts".
At age 18, I can legally keep my Kimber loaded, in the glovebox of my car. Yet I can't carry it on my person, even though in all honesty I could probably out-score most law enforcement officers at qualifications with it.* Furthermore, even though I can own the weapon and keep it in my vehicle, loaded, I cannot buy ammunition for it. Legally I can go out and buy crates and crates of .50 BMG, .308 Win, and .223 Rem, but I can't purchase so much as a single .22 CB shell, if "intended for use in a handgun". Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? A while back I was told by the clerk at a local Wal-Mart sporting goods department that she knew of a young Corrections deputy who was only 20 or so, and thus had to have his parents purchase ammunition for him (although who knows if that was true or not). While the law states that it's a felony to sell ammunition to a minor, there's no "intent of purchaser" provision that makes it illegal for a parent to purchase ammunition and then hand it to a minor. Asking why at this point seems redundant.
18, 19, and 20 year-olds are truly screwed over by firearm laws as they now stand. I've met people who have done tours in Iraq, in Fallujah, and yet can't carry a Kel-Tec in their pocket while going to the grocery store. The sad thing of it is, no one really cares about lobbying to change the status of adults stuck in this strange legal grey area. The only good side of the situation is that it's inherently temporary. Unless you happen to be attacked and killed before you turn 21 as a result of being legally unarmed. In which case your condition is most decidedly permament.
*Although to be fair, this is partially a result of the fact that most departments around here don't have particularly stringent qualification requirements, and from what I gather 500-600 rounds per year for practice is a standard maximum allotment for patrol officers.