With Democrats set to control all three branches of the federal government, get ready for more arbitrary restrictions on personal freedoms. And as you know, the Second Amendment is always under threat.
Ahead of the past election cycle, Democratic candidates spoke openly about raising the minimum age for gun ownership — and this wasn’t the first time they have done this. Let’s take a look at why such a rule makes no sense — legally or morally.
It’s All About Control
The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence is one such organization that wants the gun buying and ownership age to be raised. They say this is to prevent gun violence and suicide rates. But again, this ignores reality.
Most gun violence is committed by older adults, especially when it comes to mass shootings. The average age of mass shooters, statistically speaking, is 33.4 years-old. That takes into account the 340 mass shootings between 1966 to 2016. Most of these shootings took place after 2006 (183 mass shootings), and were 96 percent committed by men.
No Legal Grounds
Keep in mind that the argument for raising the age for gun ownership goes against everything the Second Amendment stands for. If a person is considered an adult at age 18 legally, can join the military, drive a car, and vote for the next president — they should be able to own any kind of firearm they want, handguns and long guns included.
Other life events that you can do at 18 include getting married, having a family, and buying a home. You should be able to defend your home and your family in that case. Straighter age restrictions just don’t make sense.
We Have Enough Rules
In all states, the legal age to buy a handgun from a gun store is 21. A federal law called the Gun Control Act of 1968 made it illegal for gun shops to sell a pistol to someone under that age. That’s not the case for a long gun. In the majority of states, you can purchase a long gun at the age of 18.
Of course, there are a few states that you have to be 21 to even buy a long gun, including California (obviously), New York, Vermont, Hawaii, Illinois, Washington, and Florida. Florida specifically raised their long gun purchasing age to 21 in 2018 in response to the Parkland high school shooting that ended with 17 deaths.
That doesn’t mean that someone under the age of 21 can’t own a pistol. In many states, it’s legal to possess a handgun. So many people age 18 and up can buy from a private dealer at a gun show or online. Gun control activists have been trying to get the laws changed on this to make buying and owning a gun under 21 completely illegal, even long guns — which many people are using for traditional hunting or shooting sports.
In some states, with a parent’s permission, a person in their mid-teens can possess a long gun. For example, in Minnesota, that age is 14. You can presume that’s because of the popularity of hunting game species in that state. Many kids grow up hunting with their parents and grandparents, so they learn how to responsibly handle a long gun and want to continue that tradition.
Please explain how Democrats are set to control all 3 branches of government? House, Senate and White House are only 2 branches of the government.
@Frank A Davis – The democrats plan to pack the Supreme Court with six additional justices. There’s your third branch of government.
These Communist Democrats count the Whitehouse as it own Branch of the Federal Government
And the drinking age keeps minors from drinking. Re gun control; the people who got all giddy when ATF decided not to subject braces to the NFA should consider this, no federal agency can impose a tax on anything, only Congress can, and the NFA was a tax imposed on certain items. Also, the situation could possibly be ameliorated if virtually every gun magazine ceased publishing photos of tough looking guys in sunglasses posed with a “brace” firmly planted against his shoulder. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a photo of a guy with one wrapped around his forearm. Now don’t start bringing up some kind of freedom, I’m just suggesting that pissing off the opposition is not real smart. Or throwing something in their faces. The reclassification will be presented to Congress.