Guns for 18-year-olds?

[general_koffi]

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As you may or may not know, the official age of majority was recently lowered from 21 to 18. Because of this, the FF+ thinks that the Firearms Control Act should be amended to allow 18-year-olds to apply for gun licenses. (Currently you have to be 21.)

Now, I don't often agree with the FF+, but this time...

If anyone ever bothered challenging the discrepancy in court, it could be struck down on constitutional grounds. (Age discrimination by the govt. is outlawed in the Bill of Rights.)

I can't see someone going to that much effort, though.

 

[Skeptik]

I would raise it to 25.

 

[Nameite]

22...i am 22

 

[ekkesa]

I got my gun license when I was 18... I think the application must be considered on the grounds of application.

If the person is responsible & understands the responsibility of owning a gun and knows how to take care of it & handle it, i'm not against having a gun @ the age of 18.

 

[acidrain]

but i am, unfortunately when you 18 ( and if you stayed in school all the way through ) one has no real experience of the real world nor the ability to be responsible enough to handle such a dangerous weapon. guns should be limited to ppl 25+.

Lets look at most 18 year olds. They come right out of school and immediately start experiencing night life and alcohol and in most cases getting pretty drunk. Now imagine a fight breaking out, someone gets aggressive ( due to "karate juice" ) and has a gun, alchohol eliminates all rational thinking which could end up in someone getting shot. Maybe my assumption could be wrong but its not totally off.

 

[ekkesa]

Lets look at most 18 year olds. They come right out of school and immediately start experiencing night life and alcohol and in most cases getting pretty drunk. Now imagine a fight breaking out, someone gets aggressive ( due to "karate juice" ) and has a gun, alchohol eliminates all rational thinking which could end up in someone getting shot. Maybe my assumption could be wrong but its not totally off.

I agree with your point, that is why I stated:

"If the person is responsible & understands the responsibility of owning a gun and knows how to take care of it & handle it"

 

[PeterCH]

I agree with your point, that is why I stated:

"If the person is responsible & understands the responsibility of owning a gun and knows how to take care of it & handle it"

The problem is that what you suggest would require some pretty sophisticated psychological testing IF the result were to be worth the
paper it is printed on. It would have to standardised and objective but at the same time specific enough and socially appropriate based on the persons ethnic and social background. Since it's not practical to have this done in
a proper way, its easier to ban all 18 year olds, because
let's face it, 90% of them ARE stupid anyway, although a few years
of buttkicking do improve their civil competency levels .

 

[supersunbird]

Lets look at most 18 year olds. They come right out of school and immediately start experiencing night life and alcohol and in most cases getting pretty drunk. Now imagine a fight breaking out, someone gets aggressive ( due to "karate juice" ) and has a gun, alchohol eliminates all rational thinking which could end up in someone getting shot. Maybe my assumption could be wrong but its not totally off.

If noone is searched at the door, then anyone can bring in a gun anyway and it woudld matter if the gun was licenced or not...