Law Should Adulthood (The Rights To Vote, Smoke, Drink, Marry, Enlist, Bear Arms) Be 18 or 21?

[Kanuck99]

I struggle with senior citizen rights tbh. Right now they're the electoral engine of our country, and current 65+ voters are potentially the worst generation of voters in American history.

Show some respect for your elders. Why are they the worst generation of voters?

 

[Oeshon]

I agree with you. 18 is an arbitrary line though. I’m saying if you need something concrete to pin this on 25 fits best.

Again, do you think 24 year olds should be treated then as juveniles in our court system? They fall under your 25 line.

Can't vote before 25
Can't join military before 25
Can't be charged as an adult until 25
Can't rent a car before 25
Can't drink before 25

Is this real life? What kind of manchild thinks he is a child at 24?

I can't see any reasoning how 25 makes anymore sense than 18.

 

[RockstarChris]

just make everything legal. yea i totally never drank until i was 21.

 

[RockstarChris]

Again, do you think 24 year olds should be treated then as juveniles in our court system? They fall under your 25 line.

Can't vote before 25
Can't join military before 25
Can't be charged as an adult until 25
Can't rent a car before 25
Can't drink before 25

Is this real life? What kind of manchild thinks he is a child at 24?

I can't see any reasoning how 25 makes anymore sense than 18.

i was 24 in hawaii and they wouldnt let me drive the car because i wasnt old enough. I was like...what...i have a 3000gt sitting at home.......i cant drive your Sebring?....

 

[cincymma79]

Again, do you think 24 year olds should be treated then as juveniles in our court system? They fall under your 25 line.

Can't vote before 25
Can't join military before 25
Can't be charged as an adult until 25
Can't rent a car before 25
Can't drink before 25

Is this real life? What kind of manchild thinks he is a child at 24?

I can't see any reasoning how 25 makes anymore sense than 18.

It’s when your brain is done forming.

 

[rearnakedchoke]

It cant be both ways. Pick and age and once you are adult, you shouldnt have restrictions. Having adult age at 18 and restricting booze etc is dumb.

 

[plataoplombo]

Whatever they decided, they should be consistent. It's kind of weird that at 18, you can join the military and sign contracts, but you can't have a beer. They both can have disastrous consequences if the right choices aren't made.

 

[sub_thug]

I don't see how this is able to occur. I have said multiple times that I think young people are really stupid, but they are still free adults. They should be allowed to do what they want to in the same way that any adult can. Raising the age of purchasing a firearm in any state should be seen as raising the voting age: an unconstitutional infringement upon a Constitutionally protected right.

 

[ssBaldy]

You are either legally an Adult, or you're not.

this. it should be like that in all countries. let them set the exact age as they think is best, but at the moment you are considered an adult, you should gain full responsibilities and full possibilites.

 

[Arkain2K]

The Unified Theory of Adulthood
By GRANT BOSSE | March 12. 2018 6:47PM​

WHEN DO WE stop being children, and start being adults?

The most common age of majority is 18, but we draw the line at different ages for different purposes.

You can get a driver’s license at 16, if you take Driver’s Ed.

The Legislature is working on a bill to raise the age at which a child can get married, with parental and court permission, from 13 for girls and 14 for boys up to 16.

You can vote, join the Marines, and buy a rifle at age 18. But you can’t buy a beer until you turn 21.

There was a push earlier this year to raise the age at which you can use tobacco from 18 to 21. The New Hampshire Senate tabled that bill.

Florida recently barred adults younger than 21 from purchasing firearms, and several retailers have announced they will stop selling guns to people under age 21. Licensed firearms dealers are already barred from selling handguns to people age 18-20.

One of the most popular provisions of Obamacare allows parents to keep their “children” on their insurance policies up to age 26.

There’s also a movement to lower the voting age to 16.

Columnist Jonah Goldberg last week wrote in USA Today about the folly of delegating our political will to children. He offered the rather obvious fact “that young people are not, as a group, better informed, wiser, smarter or even more enlightened than older people.”

I would argue that we are in fact taking longer to grow up than previous generations. We are stretching adolescence to the brink of 30, while simultaneously pretending that teenagers hold some special wisdom that grown-ups have forgotten.

Perhaps it is time to erase all of these arbitrary age lines, and set a single standard for adulthood. 18. 21. Pick a number. That’s when all of the rights and responsibilities of adulthood would kick in.

If you can drink and smoke, you can vote. If you’re old enough to enlist, you’re old enough to handle a firearm. And if you want to be treated as an adult, you can get a job and buy your own health insurance.

Maybe we should abandon this one-size-fits-all concept of adulthood. There are 14-year-olds mature enough to make informed political decisions, and 40-year-olds who can’t be trusted with car keys and a bottle of whiskey. Age is just a number. Let’s get rid of this outdated calendar-based definition of adulthood and move to a competency-based system.

In “Starship Troopers,” author Robert Heinlein envisioned a society in which citizenship was a reward for military service. Sure, Heinlein was warning of the dangers of militarism, but we have to take new ideas where we can get them.

Some gun controllers want to require gun safety training before your Second Amendment rights kick in, like Driver’s Ed, but for self-defense. Why not extend this simple concept to other aspects of adulthood?

After you take your driving test and qualify as a marksman for rifle and pistol, you would go through a battery of tests to see if you have earned adulthood. Think of it as collecting merit badges, but for basic civil rights.

I’m sure there would be a robust debate over what skills one should master before moving from childhood to adulthood. I’d suggest a few:

Change a flat tire. And a lightbulb. And the batteries in a smoke detector.

Grill a steak to medium-rare.

Cook an omelette. (I’d settle for scrambling eggs without overcooking them.)

Name 70 percent of the state capitals correctly.

Name 67 percent of the branches of the U.S government correctly.

Name 50 percent of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation correctly.

Take the tests as often as you need to. Once you pass them all: Congratulations! You’re an adult. You can smoke and drink and vote to your heart’s content.

If you don’t want to go through all of that hassle, you can stay a child as long as you’d like. We’ll make all of your decisions for you.

Hopefully, the New Hampshire Legislature can put “Peter Pan’s Amendment” on the ballot this fall.

http://www.unionleader.com/grant-bosse-The-Unified-Theory-of-Adulthood_

 

[Arkain2K]

As Massachusetts mulls changing smoking age to 21, questions remain
By Eli Sherman | Jun 15, 2018

The effort to increase the tobacco sales age limit to 21 years will undoubtedly cut into the revenue of convenience stores, including the 7-Eleven in Quincy that Dennis Lane has owned for 44 years.

The loss would be unfortunate for business, he said, but it’s not why he’s against increasing the age.

“Raising age limits redefines the age that somebody becomes an adult,” said Lane, who doesn’t smoke. “If you’re adult enough to pick up a rifle and protect this country, then you’re obviously adult enough to make the decision about whether or not to smoke.”

As Massachusetts inches closer to becoming one of a handful of states in which - like alcohol - you must be at least 21 years old to buy a pack of cigarettes, debate has ensued related to health, personal freedom and shared responsibility.

The state Legislature is mulling a bill that would increase the minimum age for purchasing tobacco and electronic smoking products to 21 years from 18. The legislation, if enacted, would follow a popular trend playing out at the local level, where 179 of the 351 municipalities - representing 73.8 percent of the state’s population - have already enacted such laws.

“Cities and towns have been doing this for years,” said Cheryl Sbarra, director of policy and law at the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, based in Winchester.

Indeed, the idea to increase tobacco age limits became a reality more than a decade ago in Needham, the first municipality to increase the age requirement in 2005. The idea inspired other municipalities, and subsequently picked up steam, as many other communities have since followed suit, including Boston, Brockton, Cambridge, Malden, Marshfield, Waltham and Worcester.

Until recently, debate surrounding the issue has been almost formulaic.

Health professionals argue that increased age limits help deter malleable young adults from becoming addicted to tobacco products, citing scientific research showing the brain is more susceptible to addiction at a younger age.

“Tobacco companies have been trying to addict young people since their inception, or at least since cigarettes have been popular,” Sbarra said. “It’s the tobacco companies’ fault they’re using these products.”

Local retailers, meanwhile, argue the majority of underage smokers get tobacco products from sources other than direct sales, including friends and family. Increasing the age limit unfairly targets retailers, and could reduce tobacco sales by roughly 15 percent, according to Lane. A 2014 study published in the American Journal of Public Health estimated the loss being closer to 2 percent.

“It impacts different businesses in different ways, but every time you take customers out of stores, there will be a financial hit,” said Jon Shaer, executive director of the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association Inc., based in Stoughton.

More recently, however, the debate has started to shift away from age limitations. Shaer’s association and the Retailers Association of Massachusetts are neutral on the proposed legislation, saying a statewide mandate would at least bring uniformity and predictability to doing business in Massachusetts.

“The city and town approach creates nothing but confusion,” Shaer said. “We’d like to see a more uniformed approach, and the simplest way to achieve that is with a statewide approach.”

Lane, of the Quincy 7-Eleven, said his biggest concern is related to enforcement.

While the legislation increases the age to buy tobacco, it says nothing about enforcement against underage buyers, meaning it’s illegal for retailers to sell tobacco products to minors, but not illegal for minors to buy tobacco products from retailers.

“It’s a real Catch-22,” Lane said. “We need purchase, possession and use laws, but no one wants to talk about it.”

Mark Patel, owner of Amy’s Convenient Store on Water Street in Framingham, said he supports changing the legal age to buy cigarettes from 18 to 21. However, he said, because Framingham has already done so, and surrounding communities have not, he has seen a dip in business.

The state, he said, should work to make the smoking age 21.

“The only objection I have is other towns still have age 18,” said Patel. “We should have a uniform age, not different everywhere.”

Lane, who also heads the Coalition of Responsible Retailers and Business Owners in Billerica, argues there should be language making it specifically illegal for minors to purchase tobacco products. There should also be fines levied against adults who provide tobacco products to underage consumers. The ideas are echoed by other retailers.

“Neither this bill, nor any of the municipal regulations adopted to date, do anything to address this issue,” said Ryan C. Kearney, general counsel of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, based in Boston.

Sbarra, however, sees it differently and is working with municipalities throughout the state to further regulate and restrict products, such as flavored tobacco and individually sold cigars. The effort, she said, is about making it harder to access a deadly product, but not punishing younger populations for falling into a marketing trap set for them by tobacco companies.

“If you want to be in the business of selling a product that kills people, there are going to be regulations attached to that,” she said. “It’s a dangerous and defective product.”

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/n...s-changing-smoking-age-to-21-questions-remain

 

[LMP]

I've said this s million times on here, if you can join the military you should have all the rights that go with being an adult. If the move the age for everything else to 21, then they should also move the enlistment age to 21. Taking another humans life > all the other bullshit.

 

[TyranicalTrump]

Oh, heavens no. I would rather move it down to 16 since, as I said, intellectual development is largely resolved.

Persons 16-25 represent far too unique a perspective on our country to exclude. They may up those in education, those entering the job market, those entering the housing market, and a host of other important considerations.

I struggle with senior citizen rights tbh. Right now they're the electoral engine of our country, and current 65+ voters are potentially the worst generation of voters in American history.

lol at you wanting 16 yr olds to vote, Now I see why you have the reputation on here you do.

JUST LOL

 

[Sharkhunter]

13 to be tried as an adult in a court of law
16 to start driving
17 to enlist (U.S.)
18 to smoke
21 to drink

And don't even get me started on the age of consent laws, romeo and juliet non-sense, etc.

We need to sit down, and decide which age is considered adult - and stick to it. To me, I think it's clearly not higher than 17. If you can enlist in the military at 17, and go fight and die, then you should be considered an adult.

But I'm conflicted on the issue. I was reading an article by Mia Khalifa, the porn star - I think it was on CNN or some shit, where she sat down with Lance Armstrong, and confessed how she wishes she never did porn, and she can't get a boyfriend or a real job, and she's humiliated her family. It was really fucking sad, and almost made me think that the age restriction for DOING porn should be higher. 18 year olds are idiots.

She cant get a boyfriend, really

 

[superpunch]

I've said this s million times on here, if you can join the military you should have all the rights that go with being an adult. If the move the age for everything else to 21, then they should also move the enlistment age to 21. Taking another humans life > all the other bullshit.

18 year olds make great soldiers. They recover from exertion quicker, they're resistant to injury, they recover from injury quicker, their reflexes are fast, their strength and cardio potentials are peaked, etc. 18 year olds are terrible at choosing not to drive drunk though. That's why there's 2 different ages. The mind and the body peak and deteriorate at different rates. The body breaks down at 30 and that's just a practicality that you have to take into account for one of the most physically demanding jobs on the planet.

Philosophically, morally, you have a point. But the real world shows that 18 year olds make great soldiers but poor drinkers. Just a fact.

Getting rid of 30% of your potential prime performing soldiers -- and since most don't join after 23,24 anyways more like 50-60%, is stupid. 18 year dipshipts drinking and driving is also stupid. Laws and rules have got to take real world facts into consideration beyond philosophy.

 

[xcvbn]

Kids shouldn't be forced into adulthood.

This isn't the 13th century where life expectancy was 30 years old and kids didn't have a choice in growing up- they had to because at least one of their parents was dead and they had to provide for themselves/their family.

 

[kickboxjh]

I think 18 is fine. Most people don't get less retarded with age.

 

[Arkain2K]

CA Governor Jerry Brown signs bill raising age to buy rifles, shotguns to 21
By John Woolfolk | September 28, 2018​

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Friday raising the age to buy rifles and shotguns in California to 21 as he acted on a host of proposed gun laws inspired by the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting massacre.

California currently bans handgun sales to people younger than 21, but other firearms including rifles and shotguns can be bought at age 18.

Under Senate Bill 1100 by Senator Anthony J. Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, all firearm buyers must be at least age 21.

Portantino introduced his bill after a 19-year-old expelled student bought a military-style semiautomatic rifle and later allegedly marched into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day and fatally shot 14 students, a teacher, coach and the athletic director. Authorities charged Nikolas Cruz with 17 counts of murder.

The massacre inspired nationwide student walkouts and demonstrations by gun-control advocates calling for tighter restrictions on firearms.

“As a dad and senator, I am very grateful to Governor Brown for his leadership in signing this important bill,” Portantino said in a statement Friday. “I was determined to help California respond appropriately to the tragic events our country has recently faced on high school campuses.”

Craig DeLuz, spokesman for the Firearms Policy Coalition, a gun-rights group, said Friday that “Governor Brown just told millions of people under 21 that they can fight and die for our state and country with machine guns, but they can’t buy a gun for self-defense in their homes. That’s nuts.”

California already had some of the nation’s most restrictive laws. But that didn’t stop lawmakers in Sacramento from introducing more.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/09...ill-raising-age-to-buy-rifles-shotguns-to-21/

 

[InternetHero]

It should be 21, but if you're going to have people fight and die for your nation who are 20 to 18, it has to be 18 in my mind.

That's unfortunate.

 

[InternetHero]

I've said this s million times on here, if you can join the military you should have all the rights that go with being an adult. If the move the age for everything else to 21, then they should also move the enlistment age to 21. Taking another humans life > all the other bullshit.

I agree 100%