Federal Judge Strikes Down 21 y/o age limit on carrying a handgun

Hi again, Rucker61.

This is best summed by a verse, the 29th, from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, by Sir Edward Fitzgerald.

"Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about; but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went."

Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n un-shot.

 

Me, too.

But the core of this problem is the schizophrenic way in which our laws treat adulthood. Are you an adult at age 16, when you can be tried and sentanced as such for an "infamous" crime, and get a driver's license, in most States anyway? Or is it 18, the traditional age that we call adulthood, and the age at which one can serve in the military, enter into a binding legal contract (except student loans, I guess), and leave your parental abode without anyone's permission, not that anybody does that anymore.

But sometime in the late 70s or early 80s, someone got the bright idea of prohibiting legal adults from imbibing in alcoholic beverages, and ever since then the lines between childhood and adulthood have been blurred. Now, on the one hand I understand that every individual ages and matures at a different rate, so not everyone "becomes an adult" at the same point in time after their birth. But we cannot have individual "ages of maturity", and whatever the number is going to be... 18... 21... 40? It needs to be uniform and apply across the board to all things wherein children are treated differently than adults.

Including buying, owning, and carrying firearms.

I feel like if you're old enough to carry one professionally, be it for the US Army, NYPD, or any other form of law enforcement, military, or the like, then you're old enough to possess one in your private life, as well. Same for drinking a beer, or legally renting an apartment. There are actually some very good, medically solid reasons for that age to be 25 (!), but that would really screw up our military forces, as most who serve are that age or younger. It would have a similar effect on law enforcement, and our society as a whole.

But whatever that arbitrarily decided upon age is going to be, there should be one, and only one. You're either an adult, or you are not.

 

I think the idea is to keep people in the childhood phase the longest amount of time possible. I'm a millennial and we were the most coddled generation in modern times. This hasn't made things better I had to learn lessons in my 20s that I should have learned in my early teens.

I have no idea why people want this. It breeds adult babies. Growing in your 20s is a lot harder than doing it in your teens.

 

They are well regulated IE in functioning order. All they need to do is pick up a gun and ammunition when called up.

Your mistake is in reading the very plain and basic language of the statute and reading in to it a requirement that does not exist.

 

Hi, Reality.

Thanks for the chat.

As an aside, as a member of the military for 4 years, [2SEP53-2SEP57] I can attest to being well-regulated as far as firearms were concerned.

Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n un-shot.

 

You're welcome.

As a member of the general citizenry for more than 30 years, I can attest to being as well-regulated as is currently legal under the positive law (which is an unconstitutional infringement on my right to keep and bear arms that tends to make a given militia drawn from the citizenry less capable of being well-regulated but I digress) and economically feasible. It is a shame that ordinary military equipment is not legal as is required by the constitution.

 

Based on some of your posts that I've read in the past, I'd say that despite your youth, you are an old soul. And unlike being an old human, which fortunately is only temporary, being an old soul is a good thing.

 

Thank you. I think we are crippling younger people. I had to learn certain lessons as an adult it was much more difficult.

 

I could not possibly agree with you any more than I do even if I tried. You are spot-on correct, and it is a shame.

The reason that I threw 25 out there as an option for the "age of majority" actually goes back to the whole discussion about mental health and mass shooters. Many of the mass shooters we've had in the past several decades have been on meds that have what they call a "black label warning" on them that using them by persons under age 25 might result in violent behavior, either turned inwardly in the form of self-harm and/or suicide, or outwardly to other people. If that is truly a risk that stops at 25, that might provide a good medical reason to pick that age, even though otherwise I think it's ridiculous. 18 has worked for centuries, I see no reason to change it other than to make it the single line of demarcation between childhood and adulthood. This would mean for things like voting, entering into binding contracts (key word: binding), and even drinking alcohol and owning, carrying, and using (where and when appropriate) firearms.

To be clear, I do not think firearms should be used when under the influence of alcohol, even just a little and at the range, unless you find yourself in a legit self-defense situation, where it's kill or be killed. Or, as the laws in most jurisdictions say, "Having a reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily harm" if deadly force is not used. Some locales use the word "grave" in lieu of "great", and some use "injury" in lieu of harm, but it means the same sh*t either way. Though some extreme pacifists think there is NO situation that a deadly force response should be used, even if it's kill or be killed, thinking a person should just lay back, do nothing, and accept being killed is not at all "reasonable".

 

I would further say not allowing someone to defend their life is depriving them of the right to life.

If legally I have to lay down and be killed I clearly don't have the right to life. This is why I never really even entertain self-defense is a subject of discussion with the Second amendment it's granted by the part of the Constitution that says you have the right to life. That's long before the Bill of Rights.