Move voting age to 21 with gun owning age

[cooks1]

You're conflating intellectual development with broader cognitive development. 18 year olds are about at or near intellectual maturity, but their brains still have some way to go re impulse control and emotional management. So it would make sense for the voting age to be lower than the firearm owning/military enlistment age.

With that said, I don't want to raise any of them.

My ideal setup:
Voting age - 16 years old

Firearm ownership - 18 years old
Alcohol consumption - 18 years old
Tobacco usage/purchase - 18 years old

Military enlistment - 19 years old

Sounds good to me.

 

[Islam Imamate]

I’m familiar.
I was imagining being able to show understanding of basics of government rather than literacy.
Maybe attach that in tandem to the requirement to demonstrate gun skills before being granted the right to own weapons.

I don't like either idea but equivocating the two seems silly to me. An uninformed voter isn't as dangerous as an irresponsible gun owner and pretending otherwise is dumb.

 

[DragRacer]

Then I suppose if you’re old enough to get shot and killed and vote ,you’re old enough to shoot back. So perhaps Power Ranger backpacks with integrated holsters are something to look into. :sniper:

I say move it down to 'getting shot to death in school' age.

If you are old enough to get killed in school, you are old enough to vote in my book.

 

[xcvbn]

I'm not sure what's unclear about it...we have lots and lots of legal opinion and court decisions that map out the limits of free speech and bearing arms...

Yeah and it's mind-numbingly exhausting. Cut the bullshit and either rule guns are protected by the constitution or they're not.

Republicans/NRA have accepted so many concessions on guns you could argue they're anti-gun rights.

Democrats/anti-gunners have accepted so many concessions you could argue they're pro-gun rights.

I understand compromise is paramount to legislation, but the 2nd Amendment couldn't be a more cut and dry topic to. It says Americans have the right to own and use firearms. Anything challenging that is infringing on people's rights.

The solution is to repeal 2A and either not replace it or to replace it with all the provisions Rs and Ds like.

 

[DragRacer]

I disagree.

They’re just dangerous in different ways.

I don't like either idea but equivocating the two seems silly to me. An uninformed voter isn't as dangerous as an irresponsible gun owner and pretending otherwise is dumb.

 

[Islam Imamate]

I disagree.

They’re just dangerous in different ways.

No offense but that's dumb. Yes an uninformed electorate is bad but a single voter is not dangerous in any meaningful sense of the word when compared to an irresponsible gun owner.

 

[DragRacer]

Fair enough.
They’re dangerous collectively.

No offense but that's dumb. Yes an uninformed electorate is bad but a single voter is not dangerous in any meaningful sense of the word when compared to an irresponsible gun owner.

 

[cooks1]

Or demonstrate you understand the basics of government before being able to vote, just like demonstratiing basic firearms competency before being able to own a gun.

I’m just drawing a parallel to the gun laws being proposed, which I’m undecided how I feel about yet, hence this thread to exchange ideas.

Being able to vote and reproduce without the least understanding of the consequences seems just as big a travesty as being able to walk out the door with an AR15 at 18 years old, you know.. while we’re discussing stripping Americans of rights.

Like it.

Let's not stop there though. Why should being lucky enough to be born here give you automatic citizenship. I bet you that any foreign person who became a citizen here knows more about our country and government than most native born Americans.

https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/w...ee-americans-fails-naturalization-civics-test

 

[cooks1]

Then I suppose if you’re old enough to get shot and killed and vote ,you’re old enough to shoot back. So perhaps Power Ranger backpacks with integrated holsters are something to look into. :sniper:

Sounds logical in our current climate. Sad to say but lots and lots of senseless death seems to be the only thing to get people to think outside their small boxes.

 

[Renard]

Most countries have the drinking age at 18. The 21 figure for the US is retarded, and it shouldn't be emulated for other things.

 

[Fawlty]

Yeah and it's mind-numbingly exhausting. Cut the bullshit and either rule guns are protected by the constitution or they're not.

Republicans/NRA have accepted so many concessions on guns you could argue they're anti-gun rights.

Democrats/anti-gunners have accepted so many concessions you could argue they're pro-gun rights.

I understand compromise is paramount to legislation, but the 2nd Amendment couldn't be a more cut and dry topic to. It says Americans have the right to own and use firearms. Anything challenging that is infringing on people's rights.

The solution is to repeal 2A and either not replace it or to replace it with all the provisions Rs and Ds like.

Then I should be able to blackmail you and have it covered by free speech. I mean, speech is either protected or it's not. Or, we can be a civilization and shit, and adjust our rights where it's reasonable. It's hard for me to believe we're actually having this conversation.

 

[xcvbn]

Then I should be able to blackmail you and have it covered by free speech. I mean, speech is either protected or it's not. Or, we can be a civilization and shit, and adjust our rights where it's reasonable. It's hard for me to believe we're actually having this conversation.

The problem is we keeping taking these incredibly ambitious approaches to every single Amendment, creating ambiguous definitions of them. We should be civilized and take a more measured approach to each one.

Some truly are ambiguous, but I'm arguing that the 2nd Amendment in particular is not. Make laws defining how the guns can be used, fine, but stop trying to inch towards outlawing them without repealing the 2nd Amendment.

 

[Ice That Jaw]

Only homeowners can own guns.

Problem solved.

What about people who rent in the hood?

 

[oldshadow]

People forget that the 26th amendment was only passed in 1971.

I remember when you had to be 21 to vote.

The Vietnam war was the final push to get the vote for 18 year olds.