Too Young for Gun Rights, Old Enough for a Lifetime Gun Ban

When does adulthood start?

Legally, at the age of 18, you can sign contracts, enlist in the military, vote, and a bunch of other things. It’s an important birthday for anyone. Arguably, it’s the most important birthday someone will experience in their lives as an American. We party it up when we turn 21, but things really change when you turn 18, even if you’re still in high school.

Yet you can’t buy a handgun at 18 under federal law, even if the DOJ says the law is unconstitutional.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is clear that she likes the law. The same is true of numerous anti-gunners.

They also don’t think felons should get their gun rights back.

Yes, those two are related.

See, the title above was blatantly stolen from one of my favorite songs of my youth. The Skid Row classic is about a kid named Ricky who killed a child by being irresponsible with a handgun. He gets life in prison for his crime, which is fine. People should be punished for their misdeeds. I don’t think any sane person would think otherwise.

But people who claim that adults under 21 shouldn’t have access to guns at all argue that their prefrontal cortex isn’t developed enough for them to be trusted with a firearm. The science about its development is real, but the conclusions are hypocritical.

Why?

Because they have no problem expecting someone convicted of a felony at 18 to continue facing a life where they can’t own guns. The prefrontal cortex isn’t an excuse they can use in a court of law, and there’s no anti-gunner using that argument to deny gun rights to these folks who will then accept that as a reason for a lifetime prohibition to be lifted.

Either they become responsible, or they don’t, right?

See, if your argument is that they’re too immature because of brain development, then why support a lifetime prohibition for these particular convicted felons?

I think that if we’re going to treat them like adults, they should be treated like adults. That includes the good and the bad. If they’re unworthy of being treated as adults, then fine, raise the voting age and have them prosecuted as minors, with their records sealed whenever they reach the new age of majority.

What? No takers?

Weird.

It couldn’t be because the Left capitalizes on this incomplete prefrontal cortex development to push bread and circuses and hope none of those young people have the sense and charisma to successfully warn their cohort that all they’re doing is selling their futures down the drain.

Nah, that’s too cynical, I’m sure.

The fact that it smacks of truth is completely unimportant for anti-gunners, who also love to use young adults and high schoolers to push their agenda and, despite claims of being non-partisan, routinely rally behind every Democrat who runs for office. I’m sure that’s completely insane for me to notice.

But they will take these young people and insist, on the one hand, that they’re too capable of being responsible to be allowed to move past youthful mistakes, and on the other, be too irresponsible to be trusted with the totality of their gun rights.

Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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