Not only is the right of an adult aged eighteen to twenty to purchase a handgun curtailed by law, but many states have outright banned adults, who have broken no laws or have any other disability, from exercising their Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
As has been noted before:
“Once one had reached the age of majority, they are an adult and ought to be free to exercise all of their rights. As citizens, this means that once you hit 18, you may legally vote thanks to the 26th Amendment guaranteeing it. Yet another, more fundamental and more ancient, right is denied 18 to 20 year old citizens who have never lost their freedom due to criminal activity nor have been adjudicated as incapable of running their own lives due to mental illness or mental handicap”
Now, a lawsuit has been filed to challenge these age restrictions on sane and law-abiding adults:
“Second Amendment right groups sued the state of California Monday over the new law banning the sale of firearms to people under the age of 21.
“The groups, the Calguns Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition, argued in a lawsuit filed in San Diego on behalf of individual gun owners that those 18 and over are adults and have a right to purchase a firearm.
“‘Once individuals turn eighteen, they are adults in the eyes of the law,’ said John W. Dillon, the Carlsbad attorney representing the groups, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“‘Law-abiding adults are entitled to fully exercise all of their fundamental rights, including their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for all lawful purposes, not just hunting or sport.'”
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: If you can not be trusted with all other rights and legal privileges of adulthood, then you shouldn’t be allowed to vote; if you can be trusted with the right to vote, then no right or privilege of citizenship ought to be denied to you. As the right to vote for eighteen year olds is enshrined by the 26th Amendment, then by what logic should any other right be denied them? Hint: The answer is NONE.
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